Beneath A Crimson Sky
by Michael The-Zorch Haney
Summary: Few know the truth about vampires. Ranma knows, because he was forced to become one, but that doesn't mean he has to follow the path of darkness.
1. Chapter 1

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"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

All he could think about was, "if the boy dies so will I". The thought churned through the panda's head as he ran. Why did he make such an idiotic promise to his wife? If he came back without his son he was certainly going to have to hold up his side of the bargain. He wasn't quite ready to give up and slide a two foot long piece of razor sharp steel into his stomach thought.

Hope shined brightly when the local villagers told him of a temple in the mountains where it is said the monks can cure any disease and even resurrect the dead. It was a long shot, but the man knew it was his only shot. So, he picked up his son, who was danging on the verge of death, and hiked with him secured on his back the eighty or so kilometers into the mountains to find this temple. After several long days of travel, and many cold nights with little to eat he finally saw something in the mist. It was a huge building built into the immense wall of a great mountain. As he approached the monks in their gray robes came out and took the boy inside straight away.

The father was lead into a waiting area where he was given a meal and someplace warm to sleep. The monks spoke not a word to him and didn't answer his questions about his son until the next day.

Saotome Genma sat in the waiting area. One of the monks had come and said the head of their order would come to speak with him soon. His wait was not long. A tall man with a long beard that ran down to his waist entered the room. He wore a gray robe like the other monks, but his eyes shinned with power and authority. Certainly this had to be the head of the order, thought Genma.

"There is nothing we can do for the boy. He had already been turned." the man told him fluent Nihongo.

"Nani! But I was told you could cure any disease and even resurrect the dead!" Genma roared, but his expression was that of shock and horror. Shock over hearing his son was dead, and the horror of what he would face upon his return to Japan.

The old monk shook his head. "I am afraid you do not quite understand, what was wrong with your son was not an illness, poison or disease." he said.

"What do you mean?" Genma inquired.

The old monk turned and gestured towards the door. Genma's eyes widened as it opened slowly to reveal his son. A surge of joy raced through the man and he leapt forward to grab him into a great hug. He wasn't going to have to commit seppoku after all.

The old monk stopped him with one hand. It was amazing how strong the little man was. "Do not approach. He is young and doesn't understand yet what he might do. It is best that he remains so that we may train him." he told Genma.

"But, he has obligations, and we're supposed to return to Japan." Genma stammered. The old monk looked at him. Genma couldn't turn away, it was like those eyes were peering into the very depths of his soul. Little did he know that is exactly what they were doing.

"Fear not, your giri with the Tendo clan will be upheld." said the monk.

"How did you ..." started Genma.

"Return in one months time. After that he will be ready to go with you to Japan." said the monk. He leveled a stare at the balding man that filled him with a sudden irrational fear. "Do not return here until then." he told him.

Something about those words were so compelling. Genma did as requested, and though he tried many times to go against those words he could not for the life of him make himself do it. When one month passed he felt safe to return. He was escorted into the temple again by another monk to his son. Ranma had changed, he'd never seen his son look so fit, so powerful. It was a bit frightening in a way. Something about all of this was not right, all of Genma's instincts told him that, but there was his son with his backpack ready to continue their training trip. Yet, also despite this uneasy feeling this place, the temple, had a feeling of great peace about it.

The leader of the order came forward and handed Ranma something. Genma tried to get a good look at it and discovered it was a ring. A ring decorated by a band of red gems that completely encircled it. The value of such a thing, if the gems were indeed real, had to be very high. Yet as he thought about how to get it away from his son the balding martial artist suddenly heard a voice, the voice of his son, yet the pigtailed youth didn't move his lips.

"Don't even think about it Oyagi." he heard in his head, in his son's voice. Genma took a step back in shock.

He turned to old monk and roared, "What have you done to my son?"

The monk stood calmly and replied, "''We'' did nothing except aid you son. This path he is now on was chosen for him by another against his wishes, yet we have taught him a better way to travel it."

"You're not making any sense." said Genma.

"He doesn't know what happened to me, does he Hang Lee-sensei?" asked Ranma, this time by speaking aloud.

The old monk, Hang Lee, sighed and said, "No, but he is your father so he should be told the truth. Whether he accepts it or not is up to him."

"I don't understand." said Genma who was now looking at his son.

Ranma sighed, turned to his father, "Ok, think back oyagi to when we visited Josenkyo. It was the day after we got cursed and visited that crazy Amazon village. Remember it was a stormy night ..."

**Chapter One**

Nerima-ku was a small suburb of Tokyo, Japan nestled between Setagaya-ku and Adachi-ku. It wasn't a very large town, nor was it a particularly important one either. Like many Tokyo suburbs its streets were narrow, many were restricted to pedestrian traffic, but there were a few larger thoroughfares. Like most major cities on the main island of Honshu, Tokyo had to suffer through the long months of the rainy season that came just before summer. It was like the Kami themselves opened the windows of heaven and turned the faucets on full blast.

Most Tokyoites tended to ignore the weather. Having lived with the rainy season all their lives it just came as one of those things you just had to deal with like overcrowded stores, hentai groping young girls on the subway and congested traffic. People tended to just ignore these things until they became so much of a problem they had to do something about it. Well, they couldn't do anything about the rain. They did make a woman's only subway car so young girls wouldn't get groped on the way to and from school, and the government was promoting the use of public transportation for people who needed to commute to work or school. Many companies were offering employees work-at-home options.

None of these things crossed the mind of Saotome Ranma as "she" walked down the rainy streets of Nerima. Oh, she'd been groped a few times on the subway getting here. She did her part to reform a few of the hentai, especially the one who fondled her breasts from behind. He wouldn't have use of that hand for a month or so. No, her thoughts were on her father's.

Saotome Genma walked beside her. Despite the fact that Tokyo was a city that saw its fair share of strange things, seeing a Giant Panda walking upright on the crowded streets of Nerima scored high on most people's weird-shit-o-meter. To say that he was nervous though was a major understatement. Like saying that Osama Bin Laudin was a bad man. He looked over at his son turned daughter and shivered. She reacted rather well to learning the truth behind their visit to this city. Of course, he didn't say a word to her about it. She heard it in his mind, and that's what frightened him the most. There wasn't anything he could keep secret from Ranma, at least not since the incident in China. Genma was hopeful, at least Ranma hadn't turned down the idea and actually seemed rather excited about it.

Ranma knew why his father wanted to come to Nerima a long time ago. He knew the day he was reunited with his father for the first time. The baka had no mental defenses to speak of so he was like an open book waiting to be read. Problem was, most of what was there wasn't worth looking at. Most of Genma's memories weren't meant to be seen by most men and/or beasts. Ranma had hoped that his father had at least a passing idea of what sort of situation he walking into, but he didn't have a clue.

So, here he, she, was walking down the streets of Nerima soaking wet and headed for his father's best friend's home in order to fulfill family honor. The buxom redhead laughed at that. Honor, the fat baka had no concept of what honor truly was. If he did he wouldn't have done at least half the shit she knew he did either from his memories or from living with him on the road. Her oyagi was a first-class certified sonuvabitch of the highest order, and that was being generous.

What her father had in mind also wasn't really that much of a shock to Ranma either. She was used to being used by the baka, though recently things have changed and now she was well beyond his power to manipulate. She made it quite clear several nights ago that she would not take it from him anymore. The man literally almost shit himself. So, an iinazuke, eh? She liked girls, since of course she was really a he after all, and Ranma knew girls quite well. Not only did he become one with the application of cold water but unbeknown to his father he was also very familiar with the pleasures of women. The man really didn't know what happened that month back in China, he couldn't even begin to fathom the gravity of what took place there and what his son went through, nor did he really want to know.

"Oyagi, I'm only going along with this because it might be fun, and maybe this daughter of your friend is cute." she said out loud.

The panda held up a sign that read, "He has three daughters according to a letter I got from him four years ago." The man turned animal let out a sigh of relief. He was glad his son, uh, daughter was warming up to the idea. Perhaps things would turn out alright after all despite China.

She gave him a sideways glance and warned him, "Don't get your hopes up oyagi. What if they all got boyfriends or something? I ain't gonna make'm break up something special cause of some promise you two made a long time ago."

The sign in the panda's paw flipped around to reveal another message. "This is family honor. They'd have no choice." The creature actually looked smug despite the fact that most animals couldn't make facial expressions.

Ranma snorted out a laugh, "Like you're an authority on honor. HA! I kill me."

Genma produced another sign, "If they cared about the honor of their clan they'd agree to fulfill giri. Just as you must abide by the same."

The panda cringed at the sudden angry look in the redhead's eyes. "Like I said a few nights ago, I ain't gonna let you push me around no more. Understand?" She punctuated each word by poking him in the stomach with her finger. To Genma it was like getting stabbed with a red hot poker.

"If they love somebody else, I ain't gonna let this giri of yours hurt them." she added as she turned away and continued down the street.

"I know what its like to have someone force something onto you." she said so softly he almost didn't hear her.

On a small, simple street somewhere further away Tendo Soun sat at the family's kotatsu in the Tendo-ke dinning room. For a while he'd been sweating. He knew that his youngest daughter Akane probably wouldn't take this kind of news very well. She had a nasty temper and was almost always in "Boy Hating" mode. What she went through everyday at school didn't help things either and he did try to fix the problem but that only made things worse for his family. Akane's chief admirer had very good lawyers and he knew how use them. Besides, it was a good workout for her since she had become to volatile for him to actively train.

Before him sat his three daughters. His aforementioned youngest was Akane. She was a very pretty sixteen year old who was also probably one of the most popular girls in her school. The fact that a horde of hormonally charged teenage boys attacked her every morning to earn the right to take her out was testament to that. It was her chief admirer, Kuno Tatawaki, the only son of a rich Japanese family, who caused most of the problems in her life. He was the type who never listen to reason, lived in his own little fantasy world, and believed in his own disturbed delusions as fact. He was a legend in his own mind.

To her right sat his middle daughter, Nabiki. She was very beautiful Soun had to admit and looked especially good in the floral kimono she was wearing. Nabiki was popular at school for another reason than Akane. She was the bread winner for the family, and this sort of made Soun feel embarrassed. If you had a secret you wanted to protect or if you wanted to make a bet on Akane's morning battles then she was the one to see. In the Furinken High yearbook she'd likely be voted "Most Likely To Become a Yakuza Boss". Most boys were afraid of Nabiki due to her Ice Queen reputation. They weren't afraid that she'd beat them up, they feared Akane for that reason. No, they were afraid that they'd end up owing her money for the next decade or two if they messed with her. It was a real shame that most of the boys tended to overlook her. Nabiki had a figure most girls would die to possess and she was definitely prettier than her younger sister.

Sitting to the right of them was Soun's oldest daughter. Kasumi was his pride and joy, and the anchor that held his clan firmly in the river of sanity. Of his three daughters she favored their mother more. In fact she could almost pass for her twin sister. To say she was pretty would have been a "criminal" understatement. Her beauty wasn't just in her looks or her flawless figure but also in her heart and gentle soul. Just like her mother. Everyone loved Kasumi and wherever she went she brought a little bit of sunshine with her. Mists shrouding the gates to Heaven indeed. She even smiled like her mother did. Kami-sama did he miss Kimiko.

The news he just laid on them was beginning to finally sink in. Akane's first reaction was one of anger, no surprises there. Nabiki looked interested while Kasumi fretted about how old the boy was. He just got done explaining to them the giri to join the Saotome and Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu or Anything Goes School by way of marriage. One of them would become engaged to the son of his good friend Saotome Genma. The boy's name was Ranma. Nabiki had asked what Ranma was like but Soun didn't have any answers for her. He'd never met the young man before.

"Let me get this straight, you want one of 'us' to get engaged to somebody you haven't even met?" Akane asked him in an irritated tone.

"He's been training on the road with his father for the past ten years. Recently they pass through China." he told her.

Nabiki perked up at that. "Oooo, China."

With a derisive snort Akane replied, "So what's so big about going to China."

"Ara. I do hope he's older, younger men are so boring." Kasumi fretted with a worried hand on her cheek.

Nabiki had to smile. She hadn't been on a date with a boy since Junior High. "I just hope he's cute." she said while silently praying to the Kami.

"Too bad our ottosan doesn't know anything more about this Ranma." she added with an exasperated sigh. If their father was going to arrange an engagement for them she wished that he'd at least let them meet him first.

Soun was standing at the shogi doors overlooking the koi pond in the yard. He felt good, better than he had in years. At last he was going to be able to fulfill his beloved wife's dying wish. Perhaps, he thought, now would be the right time to tell them about that.

"That can be fixed, he and his father are likely going to arrive today." he replied turning to them.

"Oh wonderful." said Akane as she rolled her eyes.

He turned a serious look towards them and closed his eyes for a moment as he thought of a way to break this important piece of information to the three of them. If they knew this then perhaps Akane's attitude towards the idea might change, he hoped. Soun assumed Ranma was the same age as Akane, Genma had told him Nodoka was pregnant around the same time he found out from Kimiko that she was going to have their first child, and she was the only one of his daughters who still actively training in the martial arts. She was likely the best choice for him, but then he might choose an older woman. Nabiki was definitely very pretty and had a good business sense, and there nobody's heart was cold enough not to eventually fall in love with his beloved Kasumi. Prospects were good, the schools would be joined.

"There is something you should know." he said in a very serious tone. It caught their attention instantly. Even Akane was paying better attention.

"This engagement wasn't my idea," he continued when he saw he had their undivided attention. "It was your mother's final request. She made it before she passed away in the hospital after the accident."

Akane now had a very uncertain look on her face. Her mask of barely controlled anger was replaced by surprise and uncertainty. Soun knew that would get her, if she knew this was her mother's idea she'd rethink her opinion of the engagement in an instant. He was right. Akane's resolve melted like a candle in a blast furnace. If this was okasan's final death bed wish how could she not honor it. Despite her opinion about most boys Akane decided that she'd refrain from making any more final judgments after she meets him. Maybe, she hoped, he wasn't like the others.

Nabiki was already interested in the idea of an iinazuke. Her hope was that he was cute. So, he'd been living on the road a lot, which probably meant he was flat broke. That alone wasn't enough to deter her. A few years ago that would have shied her away from most boys, but as time passed an her loneliness increased she began to set her sights a little lower on he economic ladder. As long as he was a decent guy and cute she'd be happy.

Perhaps of the three Kasumi was effected by this announcement the most. Though she didn't show it, she felt torn up inside. This was okasan's final wish, her own personal preference for an older man would have to be thrown on the back burner, so to speak. Kimiko had made a request to her on her death bed that terrible day. She asked Kasumi to take care of the family no matter what it took. If becoming engaged to a younger boy was what was needed to help her clan she'd do it without hesitation. She loved her mother very much, thus she'd also honor her dying wish. If Akane and Nabiki passed on the engagement it would fall to her and she would have to accept or risk dishonoring her mother. She'd rather die than do that. There was another request made by Kimiko of her that same day, but it was one that Kasumi had to keep a closely guarded secret.

"This was okasan's idea?" Akane asked him, a few stray tears formed in her eyes.

Soun had a grave expression when he nodded in reply. "Hai. She and Ranma's mother Saotome Nodoka were best friends. She understood that joining our clans and our two Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu would help secure our future."

"Why didn't you tell us about this until now?" Nabiki asked him. She hated it when she was left in the dark about something.

"It was a part of the quest. She understood that some of you would resist the notion." he replied directing a look straight towards Akane. She closed her eyes and looked away trying to hold back the tears.

What Kasumi said next shocked her other two sisters and made them truly understand the gravity of the situation. "Then, one of us 'must' fulfill okasan's request or risk dishonoring okasan's memory, ne."

The last wall of resistance in Akane heart was blasted away at that revelation. Never ever would she allow her beloved mother's memory to be dishonored. Even if this Ranma was the worst hentai in the world she'd set aside her happiness if need be to honor okasan's request.

Tears welled up in the older man's eyes and he replied with a sob, "You three make me so proud."

Ding! Dong! Went the bell at the front door and the three sisters looked up with expressions ranging from excited interest to near absolute dread. Akane still looked very uncertain, but she steeled herself and followed Kasumi as she got up to answer the door.

Slowly Kasumi opened it and found herself face to face with the oddest couple she'd ever seen. The short redhead at their front door was definitely very cute, she had to admit. Like most Japanese girls she had a thing for boys with the boshimen or feminine look. But that wasn't what really surprised. It was the apparently tame giant panda standing on its hind legs beside the redhead that gave her pause.

The redhead spoke making Kasumi look at her. She found herself drawn towards those beautiful blue eyes. It was almost as if they were looking into the deepest reaches of her soul, which is exactly what they were doing.

"Sumimasen, is this Tendo-ke?" Ranma asked the very lovely young woman who answered the door. Kami-sama she's absolutely gorgeous, maybe this isn't one of oyagi's harebrained schemes after all, she said to herself.

"Hai. This is Tendo-ke. Are you Saotome Ranma?" asked Kasumi as her two sisters peer out from behind her. The redhead noticed them. Nabiki breath caught in her throat. If this was Ranma he was gorgeous beyond her wildest dreams. His beautiful blue eyes drew her in as if they were looking straight through her.

Akane couldn't take her eyes off the redhead. She'd met boshimen guys before and always found herself tongue tied until after they turned hentai on her. A few boys at school were considered hotties and every one of them was a member of the Hentai Horde that met her at the front gates of Furinken High every morning.

The redhead looked a little embarrassed, bowed and replied, "Hai. It's nice to meet you Tendo-san."

He's younger than me but seems so polite and mature. Perhaps there is hope, thought Kasumi. Soun pushed passed his eldest daughter and wrapped his arms around the "boy". Ranma's eyes went wide with surprise for a moment at being grabbed up in a hug by a stranger.

Soun sobbed, "Oh, it is so good to finally meet you, Ranma-kun." He gave the boy a gentle squeeze and his eyes suddenly shot open. Gently he gave Ranma a couple of gentle squeezes before pushing away to hold the "boy" out at arm's length. Soun started to back away with the most unusual expression on his face. Nabiki looked from her father to their visitor and examined "him" a little more closely.

How she missed the very noticeable pair of large bulges on their visitor's chest she wasn't sure. Tentatively she reached out and gave them a good grope. Ranma's eyes went wide at the bold move when her expression turn to a rye smile. Nabiki caught on instantly, she was the type who took stock in noticing things like this and let her hand fall away. They were real, there was no doubt about that, and worst of all they were bigger than hers, and she didn't wear a bra.

"You're, you're a girl." said Nabiki.

THUID! "ARA! OTTOSAN!" Kasumi gasped when Soun's brain decided to go bye bye that instant.

Sometime later he woke up to find himself on the floor. His eldest daughter sat at his head with a very worried expression on his face. To his left sat the "girl" named Ranma between Nabiki and Akane. Behind the redhead sat the giant panda looking rather well behaved for a wild animal.

"Ara. Ottosan looks so disappointed." commented Kasumi who herself couldn't help but feel disappointed as well. He, she, really did look cute.

Nabiki though wasn't happy one bit. She replied, "He's disappointed. Some iinazuke this is."

"Nabiki, he, I mean 'she' is our guest." Akane retorted.

"I ... I assumed my good friend Genma told me he had a son." Soun said out loud.

Nabiki reached over and grabbed a handful of Onna-Ranma. "Does this look like a boy to you?" she demanded.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but are you bi?" Ranma asked her. Nabiki's hand shot back as if she'd suddenly been shocked.

"Uh." stuttered Nabiki. Her brain decided to freeze up and she couldn't form a coherent sentence. Years of loneliness had indeed taking their toll on the middle Tendo sister. So much so that she'd begun to adjust her sexual preferences a bit. There was no lack of willing young ladies at Furinken she discovered.

Sensing movement to her right Ranma turned to see Akane holding out her hand towards her. "Hi, I'm Akane. You want to be friends?" she asked with a friendly smile.

Ranma nodded, "Hai. But I need to do something first." Akane looked puzzled at her as the redhead stood and faced the panda which appeared to be her pet.

"Hold still oyagi, don't make this difficult. They need to see the real us." she told the animal. They all watched as the girl closed her eyes and held her hands out towards the space above the panda's head. Ranma began to speak in a strange tongue none had of them had ever heard before. It was strangely beautiful and sing song-ish and the air seemed to reverberate with every utterance. Ranma's hands began to make intricate symbols in the air, and where her fingers traced there was a barely visible bluish light forming a complex pattern. It was like she was drawing something in the middle of the air with light!

"Kawaii." Kasumi breathed taking it all in. For some strange reason she thought she'd seem someone do something like this before, but couldn't quite place it.

Ranma finished what she was doing with a final forceful word. The faint blue pattern in the air produced two showers of steaming, hot water that splashed herself and the panda. It lasted for only a second but that's all that was needed. The change was instantaneous. Where there had been a voluptuous young redhead and her pet panda there was now a very handsome young, dark haired boy and an older man dressed in an off-white martial arts gi, sport-style strap-on glasses and a white head wrap.

"What the hell?" Akane shouted jumping back at the sudden transformation.

"SAOTOME-KUN!" Soun shouted with glee, leapt to his feet and grabbed up the balding man into a crushing hug.

"What? How? Who ... who are you, what are you?" asked a thoroughly perplexed Nabiki.

Ranma stepped back, went to his knees and knelled down before them. "Gomen-neiisai, I meant no deception but we had no control over our appearance." he said in an apologetic tone.

"Nani? What do you mean?" Soun asked as he let his oldest and best friend go before he turned blue.

"It's a long story, Tendo-kun." Genma said after finally catching his breath.

Akane felt betrayed and wore a mask of anger. "You're a boy?" she asked.

Ranma sat up and replied, "Hai. As I said I meant to deception but oyagi and I have an unusual 'problem' and we have no control over our appearance when it rains."

Akane didn't look like she was buying it, and he knew she wasn't just by sensing her emotions and her stray thoughts. "Maybe I should explain ..." he said and began to reply a heavily abridged version of what happened at Josenkyo. He left out other more important details, especially the one that had an even greater life changing effect on him than the curse itself.

An hour later they were at the kotatsu. Kasumi had brought out some snacks and the tea service. She truly felt for Ranma's situation. Imagine living with a genuine curse that transformed you from a boy to a girl with just cold water, and add to that the fact the curse turns you into a water magnet. In listening to his story she determined that he lacked a few well refined manners and definitely could learn to speak better Nihongo. He also seemed very polite and mature for his age. It also didn't hurt that he was very handsome too. She often found herself captivated by his bright blue eyes.

An all out war was raging within Akane's mind. One part of her wanted to label this guy a hentai because he can become a girl. What irked her more was that this "boy" looked gorgeous as a girl making her look frumpy. She could forgive that part, though she took it with a pinch of salt. He was polite but his manners could use some work. The best quality so far was the fact that he go nuts over her like the boys at school. Another Kuno he was not. He was handsome, and those eyes were so beautiful, yet she still had a hard time getting over the curse. Did he like boys when he was a girl or did he still like girls? Akane's narrow view on what made a person a hentai was very narrow indeed.

Nabiki was intrigued by the boy's curse. It was interesting, very interesting. Whomever ended up marrying him wouldn't be bored. The curse opened up all sorts of interestingly erotic avenues. She was making herself wet just thinking about it. The middle Tendo sister came to the realization that she was Bi a long time ago when she met Ai her first year at Furinken. Ai was a senior. She was beautiful, and she had unusual tastes. Many of the girls knew about her, and one day they invited Nabiki to join their little club. It had taken a little bit of convincing and a little bit of seductive persuasion before she opened up. A few weeks before graduation Nabiki lost her virginity to the girl at a party. They see one another from time to time. Ai left Furinken to attend Tokyo University. So, she had no problem with Ranma's curse at all. Her prospects seemed very good.

"So your problem isn't so bad after all." Soun said in a friendly tone slapping Ranma on the back.

He was about to introduce his daughters to him when Akane asked, "How did you make that shower of hot water?" Her expression was filled with suspicion.

"Oh that, I combined a water elemental and fire elemental rune spell. No biggie." Ranma replied.

Akane laughed, "Yeah right, tell us another fairy tale."

"Uh, sis, hello, he turns into a girl when he gets wet, and I can personally attest to the fact that the change is real." said Nabiki.

Akane was going to speak but did a perfect imitation of a goldfish instead.

Maybe Akane wouldn't be a good choice, thought Soun. Her attitude towards the boy was growing colder by the minute since he revealed his curse. He felt helpless to aid his youngest daughter through her problems. There was little he could do or was able to really do to really help her. His hopes would have to ride with Nabiki or Kasumi. Maybe one day Akane will meet a boy she likes. A father could only hope.

"Well, then, lets start. This is my youngest daughter, Akane, age sixteen. My middle daughter Nabiki, age seventeen, and my eldest daughter Kasumi, age nineteen." said Soun gesturing toward each girl in turn.

"Choose the one you want and she'll be your bride." he said with a smile directed at the pigtailed boy.

Ranma sighed and said, "I mean no disrespect to you or your daughters Tendo-san but it's not fair to make me choose so soon. It isn't really even fair to them either since we only just met and there ain't no way to know if it could work out or anything."

"Son, this is for family honor." Soun told him in a stern tone.

"Hai, I understand, but you gotta understand that I ain't gonna choose until we all got a chance to know each other first." Ranma replied in the same tone.

Akane's expression softened. He'd only just met them and he was showing concern for them over this. Maybe she was prejudging him unfairly because of Kuno no baka. She decided to hold off making a decision until she got to know him better. Nabiki was really starting to like this guy. He was showing a lot of respect for her and her sisters by doing this.

Kasumi was touched the most. She actually blushed. He was younger, yes, a bit unrefined, yes, handsome, definitely, but also a caring person too. She looked over at her sisters and wondered what they were thinking. Nabiki had a hungry look in her eyes. This make Kasumi worry. Nabiki had a tendency to become aggressive when she went after something she wanted. If she really wanted Ranma she'd pull out all the stops in order to snare him before she and Akane had a chance. The eldest Tendo sister had to think fast. Whom else was it who taught their middle sister all she knew about thinking fast on her feet. If it was a fight Nabiki wanted, a fight she was going to get. Akane though seemed to be waiting in judgment.

Genma roared, "You WILL fulfill family honor boy!"

He made a grab at Ranma to throw him into the koi pond but his hands grasped only thin air. Akane and her sisters watched in awe as the pigtailed boy seemed to literally blur as he moved. Before he knew it Genma was lifted up from behind by his son, one handed, and tossed into the pond head first.

When the panda surfaced Ranma said to him, "I said not until we had a chance to get to know each other and not anytime before that."

"He's good." Akane commented softly. She'd never seen anyone move like that before. Not even Kuno and he was the best martial artist she knew.

Ranma turned to Soun and said, "If you don't object I'd like to take a few days to get to know your daughters better. Maybe a day for each of them."

Soun looked at the pond and then back at Ranma. He was stunned. Never had he seen anyone move like that. Not even the ... gulp ... sensei could move that fast. He couldn't find the words so he just nodded in agreement.

"All righty then. Is that ok with all of you?" Ranma asked the three sisters. They all three nodded. He noticed a somewhat intense expression on Akane's face, Nabiki had lust in her eyes and in her thoughts, and Kasumi was blushing demurely.

"I noticed you gotta dojo out back." he pointed out into the yard.

Soun snapped out of his daze and said, "Feel free to use it anytime you want Ranma-kun."

"Arigato. I wanna get in some practice before it gets too late." said Ranma as he headed outside.

Akane got up and started to follow him. "Uh, would it be alright if I joined you?" she asked.

"You train?" he asked her.

"Yeah, Judo." she replied with a smile.

"Wanna spar?" he asked.

Her expression perked up. "Hai!"

"Oh I've got to see this." said Nabiki remembering how inhumanly fast Ranma moved a moment ago. If he was as good as he was fast this wasn't going to be a long bout. If he got into it with Kuno-chan at Furinken it was likely going to be interesting.

"Ara. Its getting late, I need to start dinner." Kasumi gasped after a quick glance at the wall clock and headed for the kitchen. Ranma watched her go and paid close attention to every move of her body. Despite her demure attire he could tell she had an incredible body. She also had a flowing grace that could only attributed to martial arts training.

He continued on to the dojo with Akane and Nabiki following behind. The building looked old, maybe a few hundred years old at least. Ranma stretched out with his senses and felt the place around him. He was going to be calling this place home for a while so he should check it out in case of problems. He found nothing he needed to worry about.

"Lets start." said Akane as she took a ready stance.

Ranma nodded and dropped into a defensive pose. He wanted to get a feel for Akane's skill level before initiating his own attack. The young girl came at him with a snap kick to the face which he dodged with immense ease. He didn't even have to move at full speed to avoid her.

"You're telegraphing your moves. Don't tense up before making a move. Concentrate on speed rather than on power or accuracy, those comes later." he told her as he dodged around her flurry of attacks.

"I ... I can't lay a finger on him." she panted in frustration and tried again. Ranma seemed to flow around her punches and kick like water.

"Come at me! Why aren't you attacking?" she demanded.

Ranma leapt high, flipped over her and landed on the far side of the dojo. "I want to see how good you are first." he said.

"I'm the best there is in Nerima." she told him with pride on her face.

Not anymore, thought Nabiki as she watched Ranma's form blur into motion. It took all of three seconds for him to put Akane out of action. She watched though it was painful she had to imagine. Ranma gave Akane what she wanted. He came at her, sidestepped out of the way of a kick that was aimed at his head and then did a leg sweep knocking Akane off balance. As she fell he twirled around and delivered a painful looking kick to her chest that sent her flying backwards. Akane yelled as she slammed against the wall and slumped to the floor.

Ranma was at her side so fast Nabiki couldn't follow his movements. "Gomen, I got a little carried away. When oyagi and I work out we usually don't hold back much." he said apologetically as he helped her up.

For a moment Akane was silent. She'd been beaten, by a boy. A single tear fell down her face. She hoped he didn't see it, but Nabiki did and she frowned. She knew what must be going through Akane's mind right now. Damn you Kuno-chan, and damn me for encouraging that baka. Sis, please don't hate Ranma for this.

"Ya got skill and power but ya lack speed and coordination. If ya work on them you'll be a damn good fighter." said Ranma critiquing her technique.

"You think so?" Akane asked looking back at him.

"Hai, if ya want I could help ya." he offered.

"R ... really?"

Ranma nodded, "Sure, we could start tomorrow morning if ya want."

Akane's face brightened up with a genuinely happy smile. He doesn't want to take advantage of me, he can beat me but he doesn't want to use me. He's so different from the guys at school. "I'd ... I'd like that. Arigato ... sensei." she replied with a respectful bow.

The pigtailed boy blushed and scratched the back of his head in a way both women thought was cute. "Uh, arigato. Sensei, hmmm, I could get used to that. Ne?"

"Nabiki, do you practice?" he asked the middle Tendo sister.

She shook her head. "Haven't so much as thrown a punch since I was five." she said.

"Does Kasumi?" he asked. That got a strange reaction from the two girls. They looked at each other and looked like they were about to laugh. They wondered what dear, sweet Kasumi would need to practice the art for.

"What makes you ask that?" Akane asked him.

He looked towards the house and said, "It's how she walks, how she moves. It's a gracefulness I've seen in other martial artists."

"I remember her training with okasan before she died, but that's all." Nabiki told him.

"Sumimasen, I didn't know." he replied softly.

Akane didn't reply. She sat down on the steps outside the dojo and looked up at the sky. Nabiki walked out of the dojo with Ranma and said, "Akane doesn't deal with it well, even after all this time. A drunk driver hit her car head on six years ago."

"Gomen. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings Akane-san." Ranma said the youngest Tendo sister.

"Its ok, at least I don't cry anymore when I hear people mention her. Kami-sama I miss her so much." said Akane. With that last part said she stifled a sob that threatened to escape.

Ranma walked down the steps and onto the lawn, he turned towards the two sisters. He looked them both in the eye and said, "Forget." The girls both blinked as if they'd suddenly woken up from a nap.

"What was I just saying?" Akane asked.

"You said you'd like it if I helped you train to improve your speed." he told her with a friendly smile.

"Oh, yeah, arigato. I can't wait. I've been waiting for someone to finally take me seriously as a martial artist." she said happily.

Nabiki asked, "How are you able to move that fast? I could barely see you."

"Lots of practice." Ranma lied with a smile.

Dinner was a lively affair. Genma discovered that Kasumi's cooking was just as good as Kimiko's had been. Ranma, they all discovered, could eat at a speed that rivaled his martial arts prowess. He gave thanks to Kasumi for such a wonderful mean. The compliment made the young woman blush furiously. Akane and Nabiki noticed and both decided to step up their efforts.

Kasumi showed Ranma to the guest room. It was down the hall to the right of the stairs and across from her room. He helped her get a pair of futon from the closet downstairs and carried his and his father's backpacks upstairs. When they were done Kasumi brought him a fresh towel and a small plastic pale with some washing supplies.

"Here, I thought you might want to wash up before turning in." she said with a smile.

"Arigato-gosaimasu." he said reaching up to take them from her. He suddenly sensed her mood change, he could hear her heart start to pound and felt fear wash through her mind. She gasped and he followed her gaze down to his hand which was on top the towel she was handing him. It was the hand he wore the ring on.

"What's wrong, Kasumi-san?" he asked her.

"The circle is life." she said after quickly composing herself.

It took a moment for Ranma to recognize what she was saying and he replied, "The crimson is the blood that flows."

"It is that which ties us together." finished Kasumi.

"You know what this ring means?" he asked her in surprise.

Kasumi nodded nervously, "Hai."

Sensing movement nearby Ranma took hold of her hand and drew her into the guest room. After sliding the door closed he turned towards her. The young woman was shivering where she stood and she had terror in her eyes. He couldn't stand to see a such a pretty creature in so much distress.

"If you know the ring and the ancient saying that goes with it you should also know that I'm no danger to you or your family." he said in an attempt to reassure her.

"Its been so long." she said softly.

"Nani?"

"Okasan, okasan was a Watcher." Kasumi explained to him. Ranma nodded and smile. He knew of the Watchers. They aided those of his kind by offering safe havens, information, and acted as the eyes and ears of his order watching out for trouble they needed to be aware of.

"I'm told she died in an accident." he said softly.

"She died at the hospital five hours after the accident. The doctors tried to save her but she lost too much ... blood." said Kasumi. She had a very sad expression on her face.

"Gomen." Ranma whispered. Kasumi flinched back after finding he'd suddenly came so close to her.

"I won't hurt you. I took an oath never to harm innocents." he told her and slowly he reached with his hand and touched her cheek. He started caressing her cheek gently marveling at how soft her skin was. Kasumi brought her hand up over his and closed her eyes and smiled.

"Gomen-neiisai, Ranma-kun. Its just been so long since ..." she started to say.

"Since you met a real live vampire. Or should I say a real 'dead' vampire." he replied with a laugh.

He could feel the fear and apprehension drain out of her to be replaced by a burning curiosity. She laughed at his comment. Kami-sama she had a beautiful laugh, he thought.

"Is your ottosan?" she asked.

"No, he's normal. Well, normal as in he isn't undead. But I wouldn't call oyagi a 'normal' human either." he replied with a laugh.

"Ara, then you haven't been one for long." she said in surprise.

"Actually I'm thirty years old." he told her truthfully.

Her eyes went wide at that in surprise. "Its complicated. As far as oyagi is concerned I've been undead for, oh, two and half months now, but in truth its been thirty years." he explained.

"How is that possible?" she asked him.

"The order has this temple in the mountains in China. Inside the mountain they have what I can only describe as a pocket universe. Don't ask me how they made it, but one year in there equals one day in the real world." he told her.

Kasumi gasped and then laughed, "Ara, that's awfully convenient."

"I made a lot of friends there, met a lot of interesting people, learned magic, learned all sorts of new martial arts techniques, and stuff like that." he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

A cloud formed over the lovely ladies' mood and she asked, "How did you become a vampire?"

He dropped his hand and almost missed the feeling of disappointment from the girl when he did. He sat on the floor and looked down at his feet. This was one thing he'd had a hard time coming to grips with. He was used to the curse but this one thing still haunted him.

"It was after I was cursed. Oyagi and I were camping down in the valley near Josenkyo." he explained to her. He sat down on the pile of futons and she joined him. He could feel the genuine concern in her feelings and in her expression. She reached up and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"It was raining, so I was a girl at the time. I left our tent to go for a walk. I didn't go far." he continued. "I was out of sight of the camp when something hit me from behind. I tried to fight but whoever it was that knocked me down was stronger than anybody I ever fought before. I was dragged into a nearby cave. I ... I can remember his hands all over me, touching me in ... places."

"Ara. Ranma-kun, you don't mean that ..." Kasumi gasped in shock.

"Hai. He, it, raped me." he said with difficulty. "I can't recall much, I was knocked out most of the time. Eventually I gave up trying to fight and just lay there and let him do what he wanted. He blew off at least six times that I know of, I don't really know how many actually cause I was out most of the time. It was almost morning when he finally stopped, and that's when he bit me."

"Gomen-neiisai." Kasumi said softly and laid her head on his shoulder.

"He drank for a long time. I felt so cold, so tired." he went on. "When he finished he sat up and bit his own wrist and dropped some of his blood into my mouth. A few seconds later a felt like a fire had been set off inside of me. I guess that's what caught oyagi's attention and the attention of the Amazons. I screamed."

"The Amazons?" Kasumi inquired with curiosity.

"The Chinese Amazons, they're allies to the order. They found me and told oyagi where to go to get me help." he explained. Ranma didn't remember much of what happened during that time but the Amazon's matriarch, an old and impossibly small woman named Cologne came to the temple and apologized to him for her people not finding him sooner to stop whomever it was that attacked him. A few of his new friends in the order had vowed to hunt down the sonuvabitch who did it. Knowing how powerful these "friends" were the pigtailed boy wouldn't want to be that particular vampire when they found him.

Kasumi was wiping tears from her eyes when she said, "You suffered so much, and here I was afraid of you and ..."

"Its ok." he told her.

"No, its not ok. You've, you've been through hell." she said softly.

True, he told himself. Out loud he replied, "It ain't all that bad. I'm faster as a vampire, I got all these neat powers, I learned magic cause vampires don't have ki, and nothing can hurt me except for maybe a blade made of silver and very strong magic."

Kasumi suddenly thought over the day's events and what had been said. "That's why you didn't want to force a decision onto us about the engagements, ne?" she said as she began to unconsciously message his shoulders.

"Yeah, I don't wanna force nothing on nobody like it was forced onto me." he said.

I could get used to this, Kasumi though as she continued to lay her head on his shoulder. It was then that she felt something strange. Curious, she put her hand on his chest a move which made the pigtailed boy blush. She felt a "pulse".

"You have a heart beat." she said in surprise.

"I was surprised too. Vampires live off ki, we can't channel it so we gotta turn it into mana. That happens in our cells. Don't ask me how though, I still don't understand it." he explained to her. Kasumi listened intently to him, he had her undivided attention. "Blood in our bodies carries the ki we drain with the blood we drink around our bodies, our cells make it into mana and we can pool that mana the same way a martial artist can pool his ki."

"Father explained a little about ki to us when I was younger." she told him.

"And TV and movies got vampires all wrong. We don't fear sunlight and it can't hurt us though we are weaker during the day than at night but only just a little." he continued to explain. "We 'can' travel over running water, that would have been a pain, holy symbols have no power except in the hands of righteous people, holy water can't hurt us either except when a righteous person uses it, we don't turn into bats, and wooden stakes just piss us off more than they really hurt us."

"Ara." Kasumi laughed at that last part.

He'd never really talked to anyone outside of the order about all of this. Not even his father knew the whole truth about what happened the day his life changed forever. It felt good being able to get these things off his chest. To his perspective Ranma had been a vampire for over thirty years. In that time people can change, and he had changed a great deal.

"Not even oyagi knows all of this." he admitted. "You're the first person I've told all of this too outside of the order."

Kasumi smiled sweetly. "I'm glad you confided in me, Ranma-kun."

He looked at her and into her eyes. Kami-sama she's beautiful. This is one of oyagi's ideas I'm glad he didn't totally screw up. He could get used to looking into those eyes. There was innocence there that drew him in, and the feelings within her he could feel were warm and comforting. He knew she was falling for him rapidly. It had little to do with his charismatic aura, the power of a male vampire to sway the minds of human women. He long ago learned to control that power and decided not to use it here. If one of them fell in love with him he wanted it to be real and not forced on them.

"Ya don't got a problem that I'm like ... undead?" he asked her.

Kasumi giggled in reply, "I was raised around vampires. My mother was a Watcher before she passed on the responsibility to me when she died."

"So, your ottosan and your sisters, do they know what she did?" Ranma asked her.

Kasumi shook her head. "I'm afraid ottosan wouldn't really understand. He's strictly a traditionalist and I'm afraid he wouldn't understand the concept of the Order of the Crimson Circle."

Sighing Ranma replied, "Yeah, most people won't want to believe in good-guy vampires. Well, that is unless they're fans of that American TV show about a good-guy vampire."

"Akane-chan might have trouble understand also though Nabiki is a bit more progressive. Though, I urge you to please be careful when around her." said Kasumi.

"Why?" he asked in surprise.

Kasumi sighed and explained, "After okasan passed away ottosan lost the will to do anything. The dojo lost all of its students and we had no income except for what little money we had left from okasan's insurance money. As the eldest I took it upon myself to take over okasan's duties by cooking and cleaning." Sensing her darkening mood Ranma felt it was time to comfort her. It was only right to return the favor. Slowly he put his arm around her shoulders and to his relief the young man leaned into him an laid her head back onto his shoulder.

"Akane-chan took okasan's death almost as badly, but instead of breaking down emotionally like ottosan she became angry and lashed out at others for the littlest things. Nabiki-chan, I fear for her, she had to do what needed to be done to help our family survive but I'm afraid its taken its toll on her." she continued explaining. "I ... I know she hasn't plummeted far enough to actually sell herself for money, but some of the things I 'know' she has done to earn money for us just wasn't right." She remembered finding Nabiki's ledger one day while cleaning. Inside she discovered notes concerning her younger sister's activities. They included a list of extortions, money laundering, and even a protection racket. She wouldn't bring herself to believe Nabiki would sleep with someone for money, but she had no evidence of that either and Nabiki remained tight lipped on the subject. She did talk to her sister about what she found and was told by Nabiki that she had to do what she had to do or they would have been out on the street years ago.

"Your ottosan hasn't done anything to help bring in money?" Ranma asked her with a look of surprise on his face.

She shook her head. "Father is far too emotional to hold a job. He couldn't even train Akane actively anymore without breaking into tears. I fear when okasan died so did his spirit." A stray tear fell down her cheek.

"Gomen-neisai." he said softly.

The tears started coming more and more and Kasumi had to wipe her eyes. "I haven't told anyone this, I don't really have anyone that I can truly confide in. It breaks me heart seeing my family like this. I ... I ..."

Ranma couldn't stand it any longer. He hated seeing women cry, he couldn't stand seeing suffering in others. Gently he put his hand behind her neck and drew the young woman close. She didn't try to push away when their lips met. Instead Kasumi leaned into him and closed her eyes. The tears still came but she didn't break down into sobs. They stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity. When they parted the eldest Tendo sister looked into Ranma's blue eyes and then hugged him tightly around his neck.

"Do ... Domo arigato gosaimasu, Ranma-kun." she whispered. Please, please don't let this feeling stop, she cried out to the Kami in her mind. If he wanted to take her to bed she'd probably say "yes". To hell with whether or not it was appropriate.

"If its ok I'd like to help?" he asked her softly.

Kasumi said up and asked him, "Ara, you don't have to, you're a guest in our house." It was awfully sweet of him to offer anyway, she told herself.

"No," Ranma shook his head. "Oyagi has this nasty habit to taking advantage of people he's stay'n with. I won't let him do it here. Besides, I get paid pretty good by the order so I can afford to help out."

"Arigato." she replied softly.

Still holding her gently Ranma softly explained to her, "I really like you Kasumi-san. You're one of the most beautiful women I've ever met. And, you're one of the sweetest, kindest people I know." She blushed from the shoulders up in response.

"It wouldn't be right of me to not give your sisters a chance, assuming they want to. But, if I had to choose someone right now to be my iinazuke I'd choose you." he said honestly. He wouldn't mind being married to such a gorgeous woman.

Her response was to blush furiously and she replied softly, "You are a very kind and honorable man. I wouldn't want my sisters to loose out on a chance at happiness either." But it wouldn't hurt to give them a little friendly competition, she told herself with a smile.

"I can wait." she added softly and kissed his cheek.

They left the room together, Ranma carried the bathing supplies she'd given him. Nabiki was down the hall at her bedroom door. She quickly slipped inside to avoid being seen. There was no mistaking the deep blush on her older sister's face.

"Wow, oneechan moves fast," she told herself. "How can I compete with somebody like her. She can cook really good, she's more beautiful than I am, and she's really sweet on top of that."

"What the hell's wrong with me? Tendo Nabiki doesn't ever back down." she told herself resolutely. "Hope you like some competition oneechan cause I'm going to be the one to win him over." She closed her eyes and couldn't get the idea of having that redhead all to herself in her bedroom out of her head. Unconsciously she reached her hand into the front of her pants. If anyone had walked past her door they would have heard soft moaning coming from inside.

Kasumi showed Ranma to the furo. It sat attached to the laundry room. The toilet was kept separately accessible from the laundry room as well. It was common in most Tokyo area homes to keep the toilet and furo separate. The floor and walls were tiled with drains in the floor. A pair of faucets with water massaging shower heads stuck out from the wall. In front of each was a small wooden stool. The back of the furo was occupied by a large tub which was filled with steaming, hot water.

Ranma bathed in cool water which was the tradition among most Japanese, though the practice of taking traditionally western baths in the tub were becoming popular. She dumped her wash pale over her head to wash away the soap and shampoo and went to the tub. She stopped at the body length mirror to admire herself.

"Damn I'm hot." she said taking a sexy pose and examining her feminine attributes for what seemed like the millionth time. Having a girl's body had its conveniences she quickly discovered. Female vampires had a strong influence over the minds of men, just like male vampire could effortlessly sway the minds of women. There were other advantages that she could think of. Remembering them made a shiver run up Ranma's spine and she had to force herself to stay focused. The experience of being brutally raped and finally crossing over effected Ranma in ways not even his father knew or would ever truly understand. She hadn't told Kasumi about this particular side of her. It would be best to keep it a secret for now. Besides she felt that it would be a serious mistake to let her oyagi know that she had certain unusual sexual tendencies. She wasn't quite sure why that was but it had something to do with that area of his thoughts she had the most difficulty reading.

The familiar tingling feeling came as she lowered herself into the tub. As Ranma soaked his thought went to the three Tendo sisters. Kasumi was definitely the prettiest of the three. Beauty was only skin deep, he knew this all too well, but Kasumi was gorgeous above and below the surface. How she didn't have a boyfriend of her own already he didn't understand. A guy would have to be absolutely nuts to pass up a girl like her.

He didn't have time to get to know the other two girls that well yet. Nabiki was the second prettiest of the three. She definitely had a body and a cup size that rivaled his own female side. He didn't know her well enough yet to really form an opinion. She like her older sister sacrificed a great deal for their family. Possibly to the exclusion of any real social lives which was a pity because they both should have been actively dating people right now. According to Kasumi, Nabiki handled the family expenses. He'd have to talk to her before bedtime about his plan to help them financially. He didn't really have to eat but oyagi ate more than enough for the two of them. Ranma also noticed how the girl had been admiring his female side. That really didn't bother him at all, if he got intimate with her sometime down the road it wouldn't be the first time he'd done it with another girl in female form.

Akane was an anomaly he had a hard time figuring out. One minute he felt from her a burning curiosity, almost a desire to get to know him better, but every time something held her back. There was something dark and brooding deep within her mind and he found himself wishing he'd taken the time to examine it further. What he did get an impression of was the fact that Akane's outward appearance, her current personality, was just a mask. She was suppressing her true self. That wasn't a very health thing to do. Kasumi's own mind offered up a lot of clues as to what was wrong with the youngest Tendo. She was filled with anger over her mother's death, but there was something else there as well. That something was driving her anger to new heights and the only way she was able to vent it was apparently through the practice of the art. Akane was the only Tendo sister who still actively practiced martial arts. She wasn't that good at it but she wasn't bad either. Her skill level was about average, but she lacked focus and coordination. She put way too much stock behind power. It was like she'd been going up against unskilled opponents for too long.

His sensitive hearing picked up sound from the next room. Ranma reached out with his mind. It was Akane! His dangerous sense went off, something was screaming at him that it would be a really, really, really bad idea for her to find him in here. The door to the furo slid open and a very naked Akane strolled in. She paused for an instant, she could have sworn she saw somebody in the furo but it was probably her imagination. Her martial artists' senses weren't very well defined yet or else she would have sensed it when something unseen moved past her. Ranma took one last look at the youngest Tendo before leaving the room. He wasn't really invisible but as far as the young girl was concerned he might as well be. She did see him but it didn't register in her mind that he was there.

Man, she is cute, he told himself silently. She had to be at least a C cup, she wasn't small. It really wasn't right to spy on her like that. Her body wasn't perfect but she wasn't ugly either. Give her maybe two or three more years and she'll be gorgeous he told himself.

"What do you think so far, boy?" Genma asked his son. Everyone had gone to bed. Ranma could feel them sleeping soundly in their rooms. His father had already rolled out their futons. During the day he could feel his father's mood and that of Tendo-san. They were hopeful and every time he spoke to the girls that feeling of hope and joy increased. He decided that he'd do an investigation into this whole engagement business. Not that he didn't like the idea himself, the Tendo sisters were very nice, especially Kasumi. No, there was some unknown reason why his father and Tendo-san were pushing for the engagement so hard. He vowed to himself that he'd find the answer.

"Kasumi is very nice, and very pretty. I don't know the other two girls well enough yet but they seem nice." he replied.

The older man smiled, "See, this isn't so bad is it."

Ranma thought about it and replied, "Yeah, I gotta admit this is one of your better ideas, oyagi." The old man looked up to see his son moving towards the window to open it. He assumed he was just opening it to let some fresh air in but he saw the boy start to climb out.

"Where are you going?" he asked him.

Ranma glanced back. "Do we gotta go through this again?"

"Oh, that." Genma blanched. He looked away for a moment then asked, "What ... what about the girls?"

"They're innocents, oyagi," Ranma replied. "Its forbidden to drink from them without their permission and the only one of them who knows the truth about me is Kasumi-chan." He added the honorific without realizing it, but soon it would become common for him to refer to all of the Tendo sisters that way.

"Kasumi-chan?" said Genma, a somewhat hopeful expression appeared on his face.

"Don't jump to conclusion," the pigtailed boy warned him. "Her okasan was a Watcher and she was chosen as her successor when she died."

Genma glanced down at the floor. "Oh." he said. He knew what Watchers were. They'd stayed at a few Watcher's homes in China and in Japan the past month while they journeyed to Nerima.

"Besides, I only drink from lowlifes, and in a city this big there's bound to be no shortage of them." Ranma added.

"See ya in the morning, oyagi." he said as he climbed out of the window. Ranma summoned the latent power possessed by his kind and instead of falling down into the koi pond below he was hovering in mid air. He gave a wave to his father before soaring off into the night sky.

**NOTES**

This is an AU or Alternate Reality fan fic. These notes are mostly for people unfamiliar with Ranma ½, Canon Cops, and Knights of the True Fiance (KOTF). I don't see why I need to write these notes for the last two (those unfamiliar with this Anime/manga don't count), but they seem to have a hard time seeing the story for all of the words (its a take on the old saying "they can't to see the forest for all the trees"). First of all, the reason for the radical change in Ranma's personality is two fold. One, he's had a major life changing event happen to him, and two he's been a vampire for 30 years according to his own personal perspective. So in that amount of time anyone would change. Ranma's sexual preferences will appear in later chapters. As will secrets about the Tendo sisters too.

The comment about Women's Only Subway Cars is "true". The Japanese government is calling the groping of young women on the subways of Tokyo a serious epidemic and so they are testing out an idea of women-only subway cars.

Hai in Japanese means Yes.

Ara means "Oh my" which is one of Kasumi's favorite expressions. :-) Oh, and Onegai means "Please".

A Kotatsu is the low dinner table seen in many Anime, manga and Asian films. They sometimes have heaters under them and are lined with blankets to keep your feet warm.

Domo arigato-gosaimasu is a very polite way of saying "thank you" in Japanese.

Gomen-neisai is a polite way to "I'm sorry". It can also be said as gomen or gome.

Sumimasen mean both "excuse me" or "I'm sorry but excuse me" and is very polite.

Baka means idiot, retard, fool, stupid and etc.

Hentai can means pervert, can describes anything to do with sex as in Hentai Anime and/or manga for example, and can be a derogatory word for someone who is perverted. Note there are no "plurals" in the Japanese language, so Hentai can apply to one or more people at the same time.

Neko is the Japanese word for Cat.

A Genkan is the area at the front door where people respectfully leave their shoes when they enter a house.

A Furo is the bathing room in a Japanese house and is sometimes mistaken by many fan fic writers to be the word used for bath tubs. Also, its common for the toilet to be kept in a separate room like in the Tendo home.

Tendo-ke means Tendo Home or Tendo Household.

Misogi is the practice of throwing water on the walkway leading to your house in the symbolic act of cleansing away sin. Its a Shinto ritual. The old lady that splashes Ranma is doing Misogi. It also helps keep dust down.

Money notes: about 1,000 yen equals about $10. 10,000 yen is about $90 to $100. 500 yen is about $5. 120,000 yen is roughly $1,000. This is based off an online currency calculator 


	2. Chapter 2

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

"See ya in the morning, oyagi." Ranma said as he climbed out of the window. Ranma summoned the latent power possessed by his kind and instead of falling down into the koi pond below he was hovering in mid air. He gave a wave to his father before soaring off into the night sky.

Genma kept his eyes on the window for a long while before finally turning off the lights and climbing into his futon. His thoughts were about his son. Though things were anything but normal anymore at least the plan to join the schools looked like it was going to work. His real fear was when a certain someone found out the truth about Ranma. What would she do? What would happen to him? The fat man shuddered and he slowly feel into a fitful sleep.

**Chapter Two**

The power to fly was possessed by all vampires. Ancient folklore said they turned into bats to fly. This was untrue and Ranma wasn't sure where the legends came from. Perhaps it was because of that Bram Stoker person whom he learned had been a Watcher. Another misconception was that vampires were only active at night. This is untrue as well though they were slightly weaker in daylight, yet they didn't shun it. It was more convenient to go hunting after dark, however. Ranma was a good hunter, and Nerima it seemed was a target rich environment. But, he had to follow the sacred codes which he swore to uphold. Innocents were off-limits unless they gave you permission to take blood from them. Most Watchers would give blood when a member of the order really needed it. Otherwise, there were other sources.

"No, let me go! Stop!"

Ranma stopped in midair and focused his senses. That shout had been far away but his keen hearing picked it up nonetheless. He listened for another sound. He instantly fixed on it and threw his vampiric senses in that direction. He flew towards the sound until he was only a building away. Looking down he was greeted by a scene in an ally that brought back a lot of bad memories.

"Hold her still baka, I can't get her fuck'n panties off!"

The girl was cute, that much Ranma could tell. She had to be a least fifteen or sixteen years old. Her hair was cut short in a very attractive style. She was dressed in what appeared to be a girl's school uniform but what school she was from he didn't know. What he did know was that the girl was in serious trouble. Two boys were holding her down, one of them frantically tried to reach under her dress as she struggled. Frustrated, the boy trying to pull off her panties punched her in the stomach and the girl let out a pained gasp.

"Quiet man! We're close to Black Fang territory." the boy's companion warned him.

"Fuck them, we're the Red Dragons and nobody fucks with us." the other boy said. He grabbed the girl by the throat and stuck a butterfly knife up close to her face so she could see it.

"Stop fight'n me or I'll cut you, ya little cunt." he growled.

Her eyes filled with terror and she stopped struggling. She started to cry as the boy pulled off her panties. He forced open her legs and her crying became more like an agonized sob. He didn't get any further than that as something hit him from behind ... really hard!

"What the ..." his companion shouted as his friend went flying almost thirty feet. The boy slammed hard into a dumpster and slumped unconscious to the ground.

The remaining boy didn't have much time to react. He felt himself being lifted into the air off his feet by arms that were impossibly strong. A hand closed over his mouth as he felt something stab into his neck. Time seemed to loose all meaning to the boy as he hung there in midair. Soon, he lost consciousness and Ranma flew over and dropped him down next to his friend. Then, he picked them both up and tossed them like trash bags into the dumpster.

"Trash has its place." he said brushing off his hands.

The young girl was curled up in a fetal position in the middle of the ally. Ranma approached her and put his hand on her shoulder. The girl looked up at him startled, her eyes filled with terror.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she cried.

"Shhhhhh! They're gone, they can't hurt you anymore." he told her reassuringly. Slowly he let his charismatic aura flow out from him to calm her. It worked a little but the girl was still shaking.

"They can't hurt you anymore." he said again and he held out his hand. The girl looked at him for a moment as if trying to make up her mind and accept his hand. When he helped her up the young girl looked into his face for the first time. She was met by the beautifulest blue eyes she'd ever seen.

The young girl bowed to him and said in a shaky voice, "Ar ... ar ... arigato-gosaimasu."

Ranma looked over at the two unconscious boys and said, "I though this part of Tokyo was pretty safe."

The girl glanced that way and shivered. "It was until these two street gangs arrived two months ago." she explained.

"The Red Dragons and the Black Fangs?" he asked remembering what the boys had said.

The girl nodded. "Hai. I know one of them, the one who was holding me down. My okasan used to babysit him when he was little." She broke down into sobs and buried her face into Ranma's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and spread his calming aura throughout the entire ally. The purpose of the order wasn't to act as vigilante law enforcement, they were meant to deal with things ordinary police had no business messing with, but Ranma decided that Nerima could do with a little house cleaning.

"I can't believe he'd try to rape me." she sobbed.

"What's your name?" he asked her softly.

"Hiragawa Y ... Yuka." the girl replied. She looked up into his eyes and blushed furiously. He's gorgeous, she told herself. "What's yours?" she asked.

"Your okasan is probably worried about you." said Ranma and he looked off to the left. Yuka looked that way too and was startled to find herself in front of her house.

"How did we ..." she started to ask but when she looked back her handsome rescuer was gone. She stood there in surprise until she heard her mother's voice calling to her. With one final glance towards the dark streets she headed inside.

Ranma watched her from a nearby roof top. She was really pretty. With his aura working full force he could have had her if he wanted, but Ranma wouldn't do that; not after Josenkyo. Though, she did have very nice thighs. Maybe if he ran into her again sometime under better circumstances.

Nerima wasn't a very small town. Ranma flew around making himself familiar with local landmarks. He found the financial district, a few shops with "open 24 hours" signs in the window had their lights on. Traveling further he found a large Buddhist temple. South of Tendo-ke there appeared to be a doctor's office. That was good to know. A canal ran through town splitting Nerima in half. On the other side was a park, a large high school with a sign out front that read Furinken High School and what looked like an upper class neighborhood nearby. There was even a catholic church, which was good news since the order worked closely with the church in Rome.

It was well past midnight when flashing lights caught Ranma's attention. He swooped down and alighted to a nearby roof. Three Nihon Police squad cars were parked on the three below next to a coroner's van. Several uniformed and plain clothed police were swarming over what appeared to be a crime scene. Using his keen vampiric vision Ranma peered down into the controlled chaos. A man was kneeling next to the half-naked body of a young girl. She was very pretty, seemed to be no older than fourteen or fifteen years of age. She had no wounds that he could see except for dark bruises on the inside of her thighs. There was no mistaking what had been done to the poor thing. His senses picked up on something and Ranma focused his mind. A faint glow appeared around the body, only he could see it. The girl had been killed by a vampire. When a vampire takes a life it leaves its mark on its victim. What Ranma was seeing was the mark of this vampire! Killing while feeding and feeding on innocents was a violation of the sacred codes of the Order of the Crimson Circle. It was a crime that could not go unpunished. Finding the vampire that did this was going to be a challenge, though.

Ranma went to the other side of the building and dropped down. He stepped out onto the street and stopped where a newspaper dispenser caught his attention. In the faint light of a street lamp he read the headline.

SEXUAL PREDITOR CLAIMS 10th VICTIM

POLICE BEFUDDLED NO LEADS

"So much for a relaxing stay." he muttered.

A light suddenly shined in his face. "You there." came a call down the street. He turned to see a uniformed officer pointing his flashlight at him.

"Can I help you, officer?" Ranma asked.

"Rather late for you to be out isn't it son." said the officer as he approached. The man put his hand next to his holster nervously. Ranma didn't miss the subtle move and made no threatening gestures. Not that bullets would hurt him but he didn't need the police looking for him.

"Actually, I heard the sirens and came out to see what was going on." Ranma lied and looking into the man's eyes when he did. The officer's resolve seemed to waver a little. His mind was a tough one to crack. Policemen tended to have stronger wills than most people.

Another man in a dark brown business suit came around the corner. He took one look at Ranma and the pigtailed boy felt a wave of recognition coming from him. "I'll take it from here, Jiro." the man said.

"Kid's breaking the emergency curfew." the officer Jiro explained to him before turn away and heading around the corner.

"Sorry about that, but you do look rather young." the man said to Ranma after the uniformed cop was out of earshot.

"Do I know you?" Ranma asked him.

The plain clothes policeman shook his head. "No, but I know of your kind." he said and pointed to the ring on Ranma's finger. He's got good eyes, thought Ranma.

"Detective Tanaka, homicide, Nerima division of the Nihon Police department." the detective introduced himself and held out his hand.

Ranma gave it a friendly shake. "Saotome Ranma, initiate of the Order of the Crimson Circle."

"Initiate? So you really aren't that old then." Detective Tanaka looked surprised.

"A Dark turned me when I was just sixteen," Ranma explained using the Order's slang word for an evil vampire. "The Order found me and showed me a better way"

"Well, I'm glad I ran into you. I've got a bit of a problem." said Detective Tanaka.

Ranma nodded, "A vampire problem."

The detective nodded gravely. "I've suspected that the serial killer-rapist was a vampire ever since the third victim." He gestured for Ranma to follow him and they walked into a small, nearby park.

"The first one was a little girl no older than thirteen. The coroner found a lot of semen in her uterus and her stomach." he explained. "She had bruises on her upper thighs, but no other wounds. The cause of death though was cardiac failure due to a catastrophic loss of blood pressure. Yet, there were no serious wounds nor any sign of excessive bleeding. The coroner called it a severe case of anemia."

"But then the second victim died the same way." said Ranma already piecing things together in his mind.

Tanaka nodded, "She was twelve. It tore my heart out seeing such a pretty little thing laying there dead and naked. Why is he raping them? And why so young?"

Ranma looked him in the eye and explained, "Darks usually suffer from a major God-complex. They gain all of these incredible powers, become nearly indestructible, and they gotta drink blood to live. Usually after a while it starts to twist their minds. Most Darks are terminally insane."

Tanaka nodded in grave understanding as Ranma continued, "This asshole was probably a pedophile before he was turned, but as a human he didn't have the nerve to act on his urges, but as a vampire ..."

"He believes he can get away with anything and not pay the price for his actions." Tanaka finished for him.

Ranma nodded and sat down on a nearby bench. "So he targets younger girls when he feeds to satisfies his dark desires. This is why Darks are so dangerous, they live by no other code of morality other than their own." he said.

"How did you know for certain it was a vampire?" Detective Tanaka asked Ranma.

"I was on the roof looking down at the crime scene," Ranma explained. "I could see the mark on her. When a vampire kills somebody he leaves his mark, a kinda magical fingerprint that only other vampires can see. A bite can be hidden easily, all we gotta do is lick it once and its seals up so perfectly not even a medical doctor can tell you were bitten."

"How do you know about the order?" Ranma then asked him.

"I'm formerly of the Home Defense Agency," Tanaka explained as he sat next to him. "We know about the order and worked with them before."

"Who else in the government knows?" asked Ranma, just out of curiosity. It would be a good idea to know who was on his side here in Japan. The order didn't have that many members in the Land of Wa.

"The Prime Minister, the entire Imperial family, and a few select members of the Diet." said Tanaka.

Tanaka sighed and added, "My superiors though have no knowledge of them. I can't take this information to them, they'd send me in for a psych eval. They're going down my throat for results as it is."

"Then continue your investigation as if nothing has happened. Leave the vampire to me." Ranma suggested.

"Not that our investigation was really going anywhere. The perpetrator's finger prints and DNA aren't on any database. We tried Interpol and the FBI databases." said Tanaka. "My superiors sent tissue samples of the victims to the CDC, they think the anemia is some new virus like the Bird Flu."

Ranma thought of something and asked, "Do you still have contacts in the agency?"

"Of course." the detective replied wondering what the young vampire was thinking.

"Get a hold of them and let them know the order is dealing with this. That should help get the heat off ya." said Ranma.

"Keep searching around just in this area. Ya won't find him, you don't wanna find him on your own. Darks usually hunt a long ways away from their home turf to keep from being noticed." Ranma also explained.

"Arigato Ranma-san." the detective said, stood up and bowed.

"Oh, by the way, in the ally near Ichiro and Yoshiko Avenue by the pawn shop you'll find a couple of street punks knocked out cold in a dumpster." Ranma told him.

"Ichiro and Yoshiko, I know where that is. Who are they?" Tanaka asked him.

"Caught'em trying to rape somebody. I objected." said Ranma darkly.

"I'll send a car to pick them up. Again, arigato Ranma-san." Tanaka replied and started to walk away. He thought for a second and turned around. "How can I contact ..." But, the young vampire as already gone.

Morning came a little too quickly for Ranma's tastes. He stood on top of a tall building to watch the sunrise and then roof hopped all the way home. It would draw less attention than flying. The Tendos were just beginning to wake up when he arrived. Kasumi was the only one up when he walked into the house. He looked at her and at the shogi doors that were kept wide open at night.

There was a Dark roaming around town at night attacking young girls. He wasn't about to let the thing get into this house. He'd have to take steps.

"Kasumi-chan, could you close these doors at night for now on?" he asked her.

She looked at him from the kitchen door, lifting the noren with her hand. "Ara. Is anything wrong?" she asked. They never had to close the shogi doors at night except during typhoons or in the winter.

He didn't want to frighten her but she was a Watcher after all. "There's a Dark roaming around town." he told her. A look of terror crossed the girl's eyes for a second.

"I can keep it out, but all the doors gotta be closed at night." he reassured her.

The beautiful eldest Tendo sister nodded, "Alright, Ranma-kun." She went back into the kitchen and suddenly blushed. He called me Kasumi-chan. She smiled and went back to work on breakfast humming a happy little song, her previous fear forgotten.

"Oh, I thought you should know even though we are guests I will help out with the expenses here." he said.

"You don't have to, Ranma-kun. You're a guest." Kasumi protested.

"Technically yes, but I know my oyagi he'll take advantage of your generosity and I won't have it." he said.

"Well, a little extra yen would certain help. We get so little from Nabiki as it is now." said Kasumi.

"Nabiki?" Ranma questioned, his eyebrow going up.

"Ottosan has not been the same since okasan passed away. He hasn't been able to bring himself to reopen the dojo. So Nabiki has been helping by bring in money, thought I don't always approve of the way she earns her money." she replied.

Ranma gasped, "She doesn't ..."

Kasumi blushed furiously and said, "Oh no, she doesn't do that. At least I hope she does not."

"Well, since she handles the money I'll talk to her about it." he told her and Kasumi nodded with a smile.

Ranma went to the shogi doors and began to trace a pattern on them. It was a complex circular pattern ringed by runes in a strange language. When he was done he pressed his hand to the ward he just created and spoke a few words under his breath. The pattern flared brightly for a second then fading from sight. He did the same thing with the other door and then moved outside and started doing the same with all of the windows.

Akane came down next wearing a pair of shorts and a halter top. "I'm going out for a run, Kasumi-oneechan." she said as she went out the front door.

Ranma watched her go, admiring her legs as she ran, then turned back to his work. Damn, I'm turning into a real hentai, he told himself. Nope, too late, a part of him said. It was going to be really "hard" to control himself in a house full of gorgeous young women. He was going to have to find himself some soon or he was going to explode.

By the time she came back he was finished with all of the windows and doors outside of the house. He went to each room and did a similar ward on each just in case. Any vampire other than himself or any he did not personally invite into the house would be in a world of hurt if they tried to get inside. Hang Lee-sensei taught him these wards. They were very, very effective, and extremely painful.

"Where is Ranma?" he heard Nabiki ask down in the dinning room.

"Ara, I think he might be out in the dojo." said Kasumi in reply.

Nabiki stepped outside and went along the covered walkway to the dojo. She didn't hear nor see the figure racing along the roof of the walkway. She slid open the door to find Ranma going through one of his kata routines. She had to stop and admire how fluid the boy could move, how he turned something like fighting moves into something that resembled a beautiful dance. Akane didn't have a chance going up against him the other day. She wondered how a certain bokuto wielding baka would fair.

"Ranma-kun." she called to him in a sugary sweet tone.

Does she know how much cleavage is showing with that nightgown, he asked himself as he came out of the kata and walked towards her. Sensing some of her thoughts he had a good idea it was probably intentional.

"Ohaiyo, Nabiki-san." he greeted her.

"Akane and I are going to school today. I was wondering if you were going to join us?" she asked him.

Ranma shrugged, "Might as well, oyagi probably wants me to anyway."

Nabiki frowned slightly. "You don't have much respect for your ottosan, ne?"

He gave her a roguish smile and said, "If only you knew the baka like I do."

Nabiki had a somewhat poor opinion of the man the moment she laid her eyes on him. Genma at first glance did seemed like the unreliable type. He looked like he hadn't seen an honest days work in years, which was true. His ponderous stomach was a testament to how much the guy must eat. He literally inhaled his dinner the other day. Ranma had slightly better manners, only slightly.

"I've been wanting to talk to you about something." he told her and Nabiki's interest was peaked.

"I was talking with Kasumi-san the other day and she tells me you handled the family's expenses." he said.

Nabiki nodded with a show of pride on her face. "Hai. Since ottosan isn't really up to working much these days I bring in the money for the family. I think I do a pretty good job." she said.

"That doesn't leave much room for a social life, ne?" he said softly.

Nabiki blushed from her shoulders up. It was the first time she'd really blushed for a boy in a long time. "My family is more important." she said, regret filling her voice.

Ranma produced a piece of paper and handed it to her. Nabiki read it and her eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "Y ... Y ... You don't have to do this." she said to him in shock.

Ranma put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Oyagi is a freeloading baka, I ain't gonna let him use your family like he's done others in the past."

"But ... how can you afford this? This ... This check is for one hundred twenty thousand yen." said Nabiki who was now blushing even brighter.

He shrugged, "I used to do odd jobs while we traveled around. Saved me up a nice little nest egg." It was sort of a half-truth. He did have a considerable amount of savings thanks to the Order and they set him up with a rather large private account also.

She started to hand it back despite how much she really wanted to keep it. They could pay off all their most outstanding bills with this much money and then some. "I can't accept this, you're a guest. Kasumi would chew me out." He stopped her and closed her fingers around the paper.

"Kasumi-san already knows I want to help you out financially, so she doesn't have a problem with it. Besides, your ottosan doesn't have to know where the money comes from, ne?" he said with a wink.

Oh my Kami-sama I want him NOW, she told herself but managed to keep her raging hormones in check. At least she managed to buy plenty of batteries for her "toys" upstairs, she was going to need them tonight. That is, unless something interesting happened beforehand.

"Arigatoo Ranma-kun." Nabiki said with a sweet smile but Ranma could tell what she was thinking. The girl had a very vivid imagination. If only she knew just how experienced he really was, and that he could see her thoughts vividly.

Ranma stepped back and just smiled at the girl as she struggled to keep control of herself. He could feel years of pent up frustration trying to force themselves to the surface inside of her. She was a very lonely girl, so lonely she'd probably sleep with the first guy that offered. That was dangerous, in his opinion. Such a pretty girl shouldn't have to live this way. She should have had a boyfriend a long time ago or at least an iinazuke. She just might get one in a few days. She was so horny even he had a hard time keeping certain parts of himself from reacting to her lurid thoughts. Reminded him of a certain young Amazon he knew.

"Ohaiyo!" Akane called as she jogged past in her gi and went into the dojo. The arrival of the youngest Tendo sister helped break up the atmosphere a little, something for which both Ranma and Nabiki silently thanked her.

"I need some tea, see you when breakfast is ready." Nabiki said waving to the two of them as she headed for the house. She quickly tucked the check into a small pocket on her nightgown.

"Hiya!" Smash!

Ranma turned to see the youngest Tendo's hand slice through a stack of offending cinder blocks. She sat back with a smile admiring her work then looked up at the pigtailed boy. She smiled and asked him, "Want a morning spar before breakfast?"

"Sure." he said and quickly started limbering up. He flexed his neck side to side, flexed his shoulders, back, and clutched his fists. All the while Akane could hear his joints popping. She was starting to wonder if this was a actually a good idea.

"Ok, here I come." she warned and ran towards him with the intention to punch him in the face. However, before she complete the move he faded out of existence. Startled, Akane whirled around just in time to block a swift kick that would have knocked the wind out of her. He's really fast, I didn't even see him move!

"Good timing Akane-chan." said Ranma who was impressed by the unexpected block.

She ignored the familiar way he addressed her and came back with a swift kick and punch combo. Ranma dodged the two with a flowing grace and came back in, his hands moving light lightning. In seconds Akane found herself being hit in multiple spots seemingly all at once. Ranma's hands moved so fast they blurred, and he didn't even break a sweat.

"That was called the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken." he explained to her after she landed on her rump. For him it was a slightly modified version. In humans it used a person's ki to accelerate the muscles for rapid punches, but since vampires didn't have ki he found other ways to fuel the technique.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? What sort of technique is that?" she asked him as she rubbed her sore spots.

"An ancient technique for extremely fast punches delivered at full power." he explained.

"Where did you learn it?" she asked him eager to perhaps learn it herself.

"In China. I'll teach it to you if, and only if, you can learn to stop telegraphing your moves." he told her. She seemed to pout at that, which only made her look cuter, but then she smiled and regarded him with a look of intense determination.

"You got a deal, sensei." she said.

Eager to improve, that's a good sign, he told himself. She really needed to work on that telegraphing problem, he could see her next moves coming a mile away. She'd be in serious trouble in a real fight, but then most humans couldn't survive the kinds of fights he's been in.

"Breakfast!" came Kasumi's call from the back porch.

Akane walked with him back to the house. "Ah, Ranma-kun. When I received your ottosan's letter I took the liberty to register you at Furinken High." said Soun as they walked in.

Genma looked at his son with some alarm but sighed silently with relief when he noticed the boy wasn't angry. "That's ok, I was sorta wanting to go to school anyway." said Ranma. Besides, there was no way he was going to miss out on seeing all those cute high school girls in their skimpy gym outfits. Oh man, Mustafa-chan you've turned me into a hentai, he told himself remembering a close, dear friend from his training days with the order.

Soun looked startlingly around the room. For a second he thought he felt the sensei's aura but that couldn't be. He hoped to Kami-sama it wasn't.

Genma nearly choked on his breakfast. "You feeling alright, boy?" he asked. Since when did his son like school. He had to force him to go to that boy's school two years ago.

"Don't eat so fast oyagi, you'll choke to death." Ranma told him with a smirk. Which really wouldn't be much of a loss, he added but only to himself.

"Speak for yourself." Nabiki commented with a smirk when he started shoveling food into his mouth at breakneck speed.

He slowed down and scratched the back of his head, blushing. "Gome, force of habit. Usually have to eat quick while on the road." he said embarrassingly.

After breakfast Ranma hit the furo, washed up really quick, and ran upstairs to dress. Akane and Nabiki broke new records getting ready. They wanted to walk their possible, future iinazuke to school. Though, Akane was wondering to herself why she was so excited. He was a boy after all. Yet, he was so different from the boys she knew. Despite his age he seemed so much more mature and wasn't hentai at all. If only she knew.

Ranma had to cut his pace down a bit when they left for school. To him the two girls walking beside him moved at a snail's pace. The truth was he was used to either flying or roof hopping. Years ago he would have been walking up on the fence for balance training, but he didn't need that anymore. He immediately recognized the design of Akane and Nabiki's school dresses. So that girl Yuka goes to Furinken, he thought. He'd likely see here there and wondered if she'd even remember his face. Assuming she even went to school today after what happened last night, but then again he did ease her mind and made her forget some parts of it.

Some distance down the street Akane asked him, "So, how do you like Nerima so far?"

"Its ok. Seems pretty similar to Shibuya." he said with a shrug.

"You lived in Shibuya?" asked Nabiki.

"Two years ago. Oyagi and me lived there. Went to an all boys junior high school." he explained.

"We've got an all girl's high school here in the ritzy part of town. St. Hebeke I think its called." said Akane.

Ranma laughed, "St. Falling Down Drunk?"

"Its a former Catholic school for girls. Back then it was called St. Bacchus." the youngest Tendo sister shrugged with a laugh.

Ranma mused over that. "A catholic school named after a mythical Greek kami of wine. Okay."

"You'd understand the special significance of that name once you learn about the people who go there." said Nabiki who knew a certain someone had a sister who attended that school and said sister was almost as bad as he was.

As they neared the school Akane's mood started to darken. She said, "We need to agree on what we're going to tell our classmates about the whole iinazuke situation."

"Well, none of you are engaged to me yet. I said last night if ya got somebody you like already I won't get in the way." said Ranma. Of course, if he doesn't treat them with anything other than respect I'll express my displeasure all over his face.

"That's not what she means." Nabiki said trying to clarify her sister's statement."

He stopped and regarded her. "Then what does ..."

SPLASH!

"Opps, sorry deary," said an old woman who was holding a small pale and ladle. "My old eyes can't see that well these days." She had been practicing misogi on her front walk. It was an ancient Shinto practice of cleaning away sin by sprinkling water on the path leading to your house.

The young, buxom redhead just sighed and said, "Its ok, I should have been watching where I was going."

"Wow. It's instant, no delay or anything. Splash and poof you're a girl." said Akane in awe.

Nabiki asked, "You don't plan on going to school like that do you?"

Ranma shook her head. "No, your ottosan registered me as a boy. I'm just gonna have to go back and ask Kasumi for some hot water."

Akane caught his arm and started pulling her down the street. "No wait, you can get some down here." she said.

She lead her down the street to the doctor's office she saw the night before. The lobby wasn't that big and it smelled of antiseptic. Akane went past the receptionist's desk and disappeared through a door. "Hold up, he keeps a kettle on the burner for tea." she said.

"Is it ok to go back there?" Ranma asked as she watched her go.

Nabiki shrugged, "Tofu-sensei is practically a member of the family. He takes care of Akane's training injuries."

As they waited Ranma sensed something. It was null force in the surrounding Ki. Somebody was trying to hide their presence and was doing a good job of it. She was about to turn around when a skeletal hand landed on her shoulder.

An animated skeleton! Here? Ranma yelped with surprise and turned towards the offending creature in a fighting stance. She immediately relaxed when her gaze fell upon not a creature of the undead but a very handsome young man. He held in his hands a model of a human skeleton.

"Gome, I hope Betty my skeleton didn't frighten you." he said with a smile.

Ranma blushed, more out of embarrassment than anything. Akane appeared through the doorway with the tea kettle and her gaze instantly fell upon the good doctor. Taking a very innocent, submissive stance she said, "Oh, Doctor, there you are." Ranma picked up on it immediately. There was also no missing the blush on the young girl's face.

"Akane-chan, what brings you by?" Dr. Tofu asked her.

Cocking his head to the side with a smile and said, "No new injuries I hope."

"No, I've been more careful recently." she replied trying hard to suppress her growing blush and failing badly.

"Who's your cute friend?" the doctor asked looking over at Ranma. Nabiki's eye brow went up when she actually saw the redhead blush slightly.

"This is Ranma, she's staying with us for a while." said Nabiki as she puzzled over what she just saw. Did she like boy when she was a girl?

"Nice to meet you, I'm Doctor Tofu Ono, chiropractic specialist and medical doctor." the doctor said with a bow. A glint caught his eye and he looked at the ring on the girl's finger. The good doctor did his best to stifle the sudden surprise that shot through him like a jolt of electricity.

"Ohaiyo." Ranma said bowing in a very feminine manner.

"Oh, Akane-chan, what do you need the hot water for?" Dr. Tofu asked seeing the young Tendo holding the steaming tea kettle. Ranma took it gently from the girl's hands and raised it over her head.

"She got it for me." Ranma said as she became a he again as the hot water cascaded down over his shoulders.

"WAH!" the good doctor gasped as he witnessed the miraculous transformation. It took him a few seconds to recover and when he did he asked, "Josenkyo?"

The now male pigtailed martial artist nodded. "You know about the curses, doctor?" Akane asked the doctor with some surprise.

Dr. Tofu smiled and replied, "I've heard of it in my travels, but until today I've never seen anyone who had a Josenkyo curse before."

Ranma shrugged and said, "It ain't a big deal after ya get used to it. At least I become human when I change. Oyagi turns into a panda."

"A panda?" Dr. Tofu said curiously and looked behind him. Ranma and the girls peered around him and saw a huge panda standing in the doctor's back office using a broom.

"Oyagi got a job, ok now I'm totally freaked out." Ranma commented.

"Growwwlf!" the panda growled and held up a sign that read, "Kasumi made me do it."

Ranma smiled broadly, "Good."

Pretty soon the three were off to school again, this time at a faster pace. They didn't want to be late especially since this was Ranma's first day and all. As they got closer to the school the pigtailed young noticed Akane's mood growing darker. Ahead of them he could hear the rapid heartbeats of a multitude of people all gathered in one place. He had at first thought these were the students gathering in the school's courtyard, but his keen vampiric eyesight told him otherwise.

"Why is there a crowd of boys at the school's gates all in athletic gear? " he asked. He immediately felt a tug on his arm by Nabiki. She came to a stop and made him stop with her as Akane continued down the street.

"Don't get in the way, Akane would never forgive you if you interfered." she warned him and looked down the street.

"Why? What's going on?" he asked Nabiki.

"This happens every morning." Nabiki replied.

"What happens every morning?" Ranma asked as Akane reached the front of the horde. When the slaughter began his jaw dropped. His keen vampiric hearing heard very bone shattering crunch, every clap, every yelp of pain, and over and over again he heard the boys all proclaiming their love for the girl.

"I think you'd better explain this to me." he told Nabiki. She took a step back, the suddenly lethal looking expression on his face frightened her a bit.

"Watch for a boy wearing a samurai homika," she told him. "He's the cause of all this, and I was partially responsible for getting it started but I had no idea any of this would happen at the time."

Ranma's expression lightened some when he felt the remorse radiating from the girl. "How did it start?" he asked.

Nabiki sighed and said, "She's got an unhealthy attitude towards boys as it is, when she met 'him' it got worse. So, I fired up his curiosity about my sister until it grew into obsession. I made a lot of money selling him pictures of her."

Ranma frowned at that, she noticed and said, "They were clean pictures, no nudes. It drove his obsession to new heights until one day at a speech contest he issued the challenge that if anyone wanted to date Akane they had to beat her in battle or he wouldn't allow it."

Nabiki almost laughed at the completely stunned looked on Ranma's face. He recovered quickly, replacing the expression with one that looked like simply deadly. "You said this happens every day." he said looking back at the severely one-sided battle. Akane had decimated the entire horde which he guessed was made up of over eighty boys representing every athletic club at the school. As she walked into the school yard his keen eyesight tracked an object flying towards her. Akane caught it with practiced ease and brought it up to her face. It was a rose. She made a disgusted face and sighed as a boy in a black and blue homika came out from behind a tree holding a bokuto in his hand.

"A boorish lot, to think that they possess the prowess to defeat the fierce tigress Tendo Akane in battle. It is laughable." he said in an eloquent manner. The sound of it pissed Ranma off something awful.

"Oh, Kuno-sempai I have to get to class." Akane said as she tried to get past him only to have his bokuto block her way.

"Tendo Akane, I challenge thee, and if thy win thou shall date with me." he said and took a Kendo fighting stance.

Ranma observed the boy carefully as he and Nabiki walked in through the gate and over the unconscious bodies of the Hentai Horde. He instantly recognized the stance as a basic Keno stance, but something told him this boy held far more fighting potential. He walked up to Akane ignoring Nabiki's warnings to "stay out of it".

He asked, "You let this happen to you every morning? Why hasn't anyone done anything to stop it?" Akane looked at him in alarm and then back at Kuno who's attention was now directed at her possible iinazuke. Ranma detected far washing through the girl suddenly.

"You! Who are you to address Tendo Akane so familiarly." the Kendoist demanded with irritation. Akane shivered at the look in Ranma's eyes, a look that promised untold pain and misery. Those eyes were directed right at Kuno.

"I am Saotome ..." Ranma tried to respond but was cut off.

"Hold! Is it not customary to give one's own name first?" the Kendoist said taking a regal pose. "I am the rising star of the High School Kendo world oft times know as the Blue Thunder of Furinken High. Know that my name strikes fear and reverence in all who hear it. I am Kuno Tatawaki, heir of the mighty house Kuno, age seventeen." As he spoke he lifted his bokuto to the sky just as a bolt of lightning struck somewhere.

With a "humph" Ranma feel into a fighting stance that Akane didn't recognize and to her amazement began to radiate ... light? His battle aura flared into existence, first appearing as a faint aura which soon grew into a flaming conflagration of power.

"I am Saotome Ranma, master of the Saotome Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," he said and then withdrew a bokuto of his own seemingly from nowhere. "I formally challenge you!"

Akane didn't dare move close to Ranma, his aura was generating a lot of heat. She was amazed at the amount of power he could put out. It made her realize just how far "out of his league" she really was. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded speaking only as loudly as dared so he could hear her but nobody else in the school yard could.

"Something nobody else seems to be willing to do." he answered her.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Protect your honor." he replied. His answer shocked her. He'd only just met her yesterday, they barely knew each other and he was doing this? She felt very confused inside. The boys she knew would never do what he was doing now, they all feared Kuno which is why they never stood up to him, but Ranma was different. Kuno had no idea how much mortal danger he was in, he faced a blooded warrior who knew over two thousand ways to kill.

"Thou seeks to date the fair Tendo Akane? Defeat her in battle, and I shall allow it." Kuno said, though his voice seemed much less certain for some reason. A lot of the girls watching the scene from the balcony on the front of the school and the school yard all had stars in their eyes. Finally a boy with a sense of honor, was a pervert, and was pretty cute too.

"BAKA! I'm challenging you to stop these attacks, not perpetuate them!" Ranma yelled at the boy. His shout nearly shattered the windows of the school.

Kuno feel into a fighting stand and said, "Very well, nave, if you defeat me I shall call an end to the challenges against the fierce tigress Tendo Akane. However, it is but a jest since you shall not defeat one such as I."

"You sure are full of yourself." Ranma quipped. "I despise guys like you. Pisses me off."

Akane felt like she was going to need waders with the amount of testosterone being sprayed all over the school yard. "Hey! Now wait a minute!" she protested as things suddenly went totally out of her control.

"I don't think they heard you." said Nabiki. She pointed towards the ground and Akane gasp. The ground where Ranma was walking was scorched black.

"Wow." she breathed in sheer awe.

"HAVE AT THEE FIEND!" Kuno cried out and launched into a furious assault. The boys all start shouting excited as the battle of joined, then the girls began to cheer Ranma's name like a chant.

"He's here only a few minutes and already he's a celebrity." Akane sighed and Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. Secretly she was cheering as well, she saw her girls milling about working the crowd. They stood a chance to make a lot of money today. She left her sister to make sure they were setting bets for the right boy. It wouldn't do for them to bet on Ranma because from where she stood he was going to be the winner. She didn't have to be a martial artist to recognize that.

Kuno, however, didn't recognize that fact. Ranma was beating him like a redheaded step child. The pigtailed boy's flaming aura had vanished allow him to get closer to him but he just couldn't get his sword in to score a hit. He was sore all over from multiple hits from Ranma, some in his vital spots. He hurt like a sonuvabitch, but his pride would not let him consider defeat as anything within the realm of possibility. He was the heir of the Kuno clan, he was the Blue Thunder of Furinken High, he was the chosen of Kami-sama. There was no way anyone or anything could defeat him. It could not be done, period! He was the hand of Kami-sama and all who challenged him would die!

Ranma had to admit the boy had skill, for a run-of-the-mill average high school Kendo practitioner. He wasn't even breaking a sweat as he fended off text-book jabs and swings which were learned during beginner classes. This guy was so far below his level it was beyond embarrassing. Suddenly, he felt the frustration level in the delusional boy reach a peak and something snapped. Kuno's attacks came in ten times faster with fiercer than before. Ranma found himself having to dodge vacuum blades and wind attacks. He reasoned the boy was holding back perhaps to gauge his skills.

A stray vacuum blade shot past Ranma and plowed into the water fountains next to a crowd of students. The concrete and metal shattered raining shrapnel on the students. He realized at that moment that the other students were in more danger from Kuno than he was. It was time to finish this before someone got seriously hurt.

Ranma made his bokuto disappear and dodged out of the way of Kuno's fierce charge. He leapt over the Kenoist landing behind him and raised his hands. His hands weaved a complex pattern in the air that visibly shimmer with golden light at a speed that inhuman. The pattern was finished before Kuno was able to turn around and deliver another attack. He never got any further, Ranma pressed the palm of his hand to the sigil he drew and said a word in a language nobody had ever heard before. Tongues of lightning shot out from the sigil making Kuno dance with convulsions. Seconds later he was flat on his back unconscious, charred at bit here and there, but otherwise alive.

"What the hell was that?" Nabiki exclaimed and looked at her sister who shook her head.

Another student who seemed to blend in with the rest of the students and was generally ignored took notice of what Ranma did as well.

"That ... that was magic ... real magic." gasped the short and gaunt student named Kosunkugi Hikaru.

From the balcony above Yuka grabbed Sayuri's arm excited and pointed at the pigtailed boy. "That's him, that's the one who saved me!" she shouted excitedly.

"Wow, and you let him get away?" Sayuri replied as she visually admired the young man as he turned around. She gasped and looked away when he suddenly looked up and straight at her. How did he know?

"He was gone before I could thank him." Yuka said.

"I'm surprised you came to school, if some punks tried to have their way with me I'd lock myself in my room for a week." Sayuri said to her.

"I don't know, somehow it didn't seem like such a big thing when he was near me. It was like being next to him made it all go away. I should be distraught and crying and terrified of going back outside but I'm not." Yuka replied.

One of their fellow students, a young girl named Kiriko said, "If a boy like him came to my rescue I'm feel the same way. What a hunk."

Down in the school yard Ranma gestured for the two Tendo sisters to follow him into the school. They left Kuno laying there in the yard were he fell. Akane for her part felt like she should be royally pissed off. Ranma butted into her fight as if saying she wasn't able to take care of herself, but what he said to her really hit her. He was defending her honor. No boy had ever done that, she was the one always having to defend her own honor all the time. Her sisters weren't fighters so they couldn't do it, and her father wasn't in the right mental state to be helpful so she had to learn to fend for herself. The question now was why did he do it. A part of her that didn't trust boys told her he had an ulterior motive, that he expected some "appreciation" for what he did, but another part of her told her that he did it because it was the right thing to do and he expected nothing in return. The internal war within her would battle on all day with both sides refusing to give in. It wouldn't be until the end of the school day that one side would gain the upper hand and win, and it was again because of something that he said.

It was amazing that they were still able to get to class on time. Akane was certain they were late but she and Ranma go into class with just a few seconds to spare. The teacher spoke to Ranma for a moment before turn towards the class. Almost everyone know who he was by now, word had spread throughout the school that someone had beaten Kuno. The girls were all enraptured as were a few of the boys, and rest of the boys grumbled at the attention the new kids was getting from the girls.

"Class, we have a new student. Why don't you introduce yourself." said the teacher.

"Hai, sensei. I am Saotome Ranma, master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts." Ranma said with a bow to the class.

"Master? You seem young to be a master." said the teacher.

"I've trained in martial arts since I was old enough to walk." Ranma replied.

"What about your father?" the teacher asked.

Ranma smiled and said, "I surpassed him a long time ago." With a flick of his wrist a scroll appeared in his hands. He let it fall open revealing it to be a handwritten certificate naming him the master of the school. Akane looked at it absolute shock. He had said he was the "Master" of the Saotome school but she thought was just exaggerating because of the heat of the moment, but there was no denying the proof that was in front of him. It was signed by his father, she could clearly see his signature, and it was signed by two others. One was oddly named Matriarch Cologne, and the other was named Terrana Mitumbo. She was still just a student of Anything Goes and he was already a MASTER! Akane felt very insignificant in his presence just then.

"Uh, ok, you can take the seat next to Tendo-san." the teacher said after recovering a bit of his wits.

"Hai, sensei." Ranma replied and took his seat. The scroll has somehow disappeared from his hands as if by magic by the time he reached his seat. It left a lot of the students scratching their heads.

Lunchtime came quickly. Ranma had been bored in school. He already knew all of the stuff being taught, math, science, and English. He already knew them all, he could speak multiple languages. The Order had discovered that his natural ability to learn martial arts techniques just by watching them being performed also worked when he studied other things like academia. Basically he was a certified genius of the highest caliber and a joy for the teachers at the Order to work with. That is, after they discovered the mechanism by which he learned the best.

As he sat down to eat the box lunch Kasumi had given him that morning a shadow fell over him. He didn't have to look up to know who it was. He caught her sent a mile away, recognized it from the last night. She was looking shy and demure standing there with her hands clasped in front of her in the traditional submissive manner. A bright blush covered her face. Clasped in her fingers was a bento box lunch wrapped up in a pink bandanna.

"Uh, umm, sem ... sem ... sempai, c ... could I ... I sit and eat l ... lunch with you?" she asked, stumbling over her words.

"We're both same year students Yuka-chan, you don't have to call me sempai." he told her and gestured for her sit.

"I knew it, it was you." she said blushing even brighter. Her heart was racing, this just had to be a dream.

"Are you alright, from last night I mean?" he asked her gently.

"H ... Hai." she said quietly.

She help up her opened bento and asked him, "My okasan made a little too much do you want some?" He really didn't need to eat, he could but it was just for appearances and nothing else. He graciously accepted a portion of her lunch and ate it. Seeing him enjoy her food made her happy, and he noticed that she had a very pretty smile.

"Ranma-chan ..." she clasped her hand over her mouth for speaking so familiarly and started over. "Ranma-kun, are you doing anything this weekend?" Oh my Kami-sama, I can't believe I actually asked him out, she cried inwardly.

Smiling he replied, "I think I might be free. Are you asking me out, Yuka-chan?"

Yuka blushed so fiercely he was afraid she might pass out. "Ha ... ha ... ha ... hai." She felt really light headed like she was going to pass out at any minute. She never felt more nervous in her life than she did at this moment.

"You know, you have a very pretty smile." he told her. Yuka could barely contain her joy. A short distance away Akane, Nabiki and Sayuri sat together under their usual tree. They watched the exchange with curiosity. Akane had never seen her best friend look so nervous. Yes, she was the one who was supposed to maybe be Ranma's iinazuke one day, but he said that if she met someone he wouldn't get in the way. Well, in her mind that agreement went both ways. If Yuka won him over then more power to her. You go girl, she silently cheered her on. Yet, a part of her felt sad also, but why?

"I've never seen Yuka-chan so nervous, you'd think she never ask a boy out before." Sayuri said.

"I get this strange feeling sometimes that there's something different about Ranma, I can't put my finger on it but he's not like the boys around here." Nabiki said as she watched said boy and her sister's best friend.

"Technically he's supposed to marry one of us." Akane explained to Sayuri who suddenly looked shocked.

"Nani?"

"The whole thing got sprung on us by our parents, but we all made an agreement that if we met someone else we wouldn't get in each other's way." Nabiki told her.

Akane nodded and said, "We only met him for the first time last night."

"Well, if you're serious about maybe winning him over you'd better hurry, because when Yuka sets her sights on a guy she really likes he doesn't stand a chance." Sayuri warned them both.

Akane blanched. Nabiki asked her, "What's wrong sis? Having second thoughts about boys?"

"NO! I, well, maybe." she replied with a blush.

"Yuka sure is cute, competing with her is going to be hard." Nabiki said.

"Try competing with Kasumi." Akane told her.

Sayuri's eyes went wide with surprise and she asked, "Kasumi is after him too?"

Akane shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think so, its the way she looks at him. There's only one other guy Kasumi ever looked at that way."

"Uh, oh, this is serious. Did she asked him what his favorite dishes are?" Nabiki asked suddenly feeling nervous for some odd reason. She didn't have for a boyfriend, yet why did she suddenly feel so desperate.

"I don't know, but if she did ..." Akane started to say when Sayuri spoke up.

"If your competition is Kasumi and Yuka, you two are in trouble." Akane and Nabiki both blanched and turned back towards where Ranma and Yuka sat together. Akane felt her misgivings about being with a boy flowing away. Ranma was so different, he respected her as a martial artist and he was always very kind whenever they spoke. Nabiki never felt this way towards the boy before. There was no way she could be in love with him, not after just meeting him, but she knew that she was very lonely. Perhaps he was her last chance.

The competition for Ranma had begun.

**NOTES**

This version of Ranma is much darker than he is in the Anime/Manga and in other fics I've done. I will reveal that he's a blooded warrior, he has killed before and had no fear of killing again. He is concerned for others and will not put innocent bystanders in danger like Ryoga often does when his rage gets the better of him. BTW, Ryoga shows up in chapter four. By now you also noticed that Ranma isn't as shy about intimacy. He found the joys of women and discovered that he likes it. He likes it a lot. This is certain to cause hilarity in the future, this fic isn't going to be dark all the time.

A note about Ranma being the Master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes. Remember he is actually much older than he appears physically. He has been studying all sorts of martial artist styles perfecting the Anything Goes style for three decades while trainings with the Order. So, by the time he and his father are reunited he's surpassed his father by a hundred fold and forces him to give up the rank as Master. The details of how that happens will come in a later chapter.

Little if nothing has ever really been done with the other Ranma characters. I mean Yuka, Sayori, Hiroshi, and Daisuke. They're Ranma and Akane's friends at school. Yuka I have to admit is very pretty, both in the Anime and the Manga. I will be doing more with her in this fic, and adding her as a love interest for Ranma will prove interesting. Warning, a few spoilers ahead. The Amazons will show up in the future but their role in this Ranmaverse will be vastly different from canon. That means no Cat's Tongue story arch. A certain character from "Ah! My Goddess" will show up also. She's a love interest, but like Kodachi she's an unwanted love interest. And, no, she isn't one of the Norns and she isn't Peorth. Here's a hint, she hates Good Luck Charms. MWWAAHAHAHAHA!


	3. Chapter 3

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

"If your competition is Kasumi and Yuka, you two are in trouble." Akane and Nabiki both blanched and turned back towards where Ranma and Yuka sat together. Akane felt her misgivings about being with a boy flowing away. Ranma was so different, he respected her as a martial artist and he was always very kind whenever they spoke. Nabiki never felt this way towards the boy before. There was no way she could be in love with him, not after just meeting him, but she knew that she was very lonely. Perhaps he was her last chance.

The competition for Ranma had begun.

**Chapter Three**

Detective Tanaka, Homicide Detective for the Nihon Police sighed dejectedly as he poured over the various photos of the various crime scenes. So young, the girls were so young. He hoped the vampire he met, what was his name ... ah ... Ranma, yes, he hoped that Ranma would be able to put an end to this soon. His superiors were expecting results and soon. The case was an embarrassment for the department. Ten victims and they have no leads, no suspects, nothing. If the rapist was indeed a Dark, a vampire who reveled in the killing of humans, than there was nothing he could do. All he could do was make it look like he was doing his job while Ranma took care of it. It was the best of arrangements but it was the only one that didn't put anyone at risk. If they found the perp and went after him and he was a Dark then it would be a slaughter ... their slaughter.

"Hey." He looked up and saw his partner holding a cup of coffee for him.

"Man, you look like hell. When was the last time you had some sleep?" his partner, Detective Ishkawa asked him.

"I've been up forty eight hours." Tanaka replied.

Ishkawa whistled, "You work too damn hard."

Tanaka pulled out a pack of cigarettes, he took a puff off one he lit with a Zippo and said, "You sound like my wife."

"Well, I wouldn't know how that is since I'm not married yet." Ishkawa laughed. "But seriously, you are working too hard. This case is really getting to you isn't it?"

If you only knew. "Yeah, we've had ten victims, all of them underage girls and not one single lead on the perp. That's pretty much a moot point now though."

Ishkawa leaned towards his partner and whispered, "So what I heard is true. The perp, he's a Dark."

Tanaka nodded, "You were in the Home Agency too, so you should understand how danger dealing with those things can be."

"But there's someone from the Order dealing with it, or so I heard." Ishkawa said.

Tanaka took a drag off his cigarette before rubbing it out in his ash tray which was overflowing with buds. "You smoke too damn many of those things." Ishkawa told him.

"There you go again. You and my wife hang out too much." Tanaka said with a laugh.

Ishkawa smiled, "Well she is my half-sister."

Tanaka rolled his eyes and said, "Anyway, the brass should be getting off our backs soon. I called the agency and told them what was up. Too bad the chief isn't in the know about the Order."

"You'd think he'd be one of the first to know, ne?" Ishkawa replied with a shrug. "

Tanaka broke out another cigarette. "If he did this job would be a whole fucking lot easier, but the government gets nervous about sensitive information like that." he said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ishkawa said with a sigh. "So, you gonna go get some sleep or do I gotta drag your sorry ass back home myself?"

Tanaka smirked before getting up from his desk. He pocketed the cigarette he pulled out but didn't light and looked over the flood of paperwork on his desk. "I swear someday this job is going to kill me, one way or another. Call my cell if anything comes up." he said as he turned to leave.

Tendo Akane had a lot on her mind when school finally let out. The truth be told she didn't really trust boys, especially boys from Furinken High School. She had met other boys from other schools who had been half-way decent and polite from time to time. So, she wasn't totally against the idea of actually being romantically involved with a boy. She just wanted one who liked her but didn't obsess over her like Kuno did. Then there was Ranma. She had only met him yesterday, yet in that time he had shocked and surprised her with his kind nature and stunt with Kuno where he was "protecting her honor" like some too-good-to-be-true romantic hero from those romantic dramas Kasumi love watching so much. He was good looking, polite, respected her as a person and as a martial artist, and above all he was-not-a-pervert despite his strange curse.

Either she or one of her sisters were supposed to marry him in order to fulfill giri, a sacred pact between their parents made long before they were born to join the schools. It had been Ranma's decision to hold off on making any decisions concerning any engagements until he got to know them better, and that if they met someone else and fell in love he would not interfere. That alone made him ok in Akane's opinion as well as the opinions of her two older sisters. Though, she secretly suspected that either Nabiki or Kasumi would say "yes" immediately if he asked them right now. Nabiki was very lonely, she would accept an engagement with him just because of that. Kasumi also seemed drawn to him too. Then, there was Yuka, her best friend. Akane didn't know whether to feel betrayed, envious, or overjoyed. Yuka was pretty cute, one of the prettiest girls in school next to herself as far as the boys were concerned. Ranma was a nice boy, but would she really want to pursue him as a love interest? She still wasn't too sure.

"Hey, you headed home?" someone asked her. She jumped, startled for a second and turned around to see Ranma smiling at her. I didn't even feel him walk up behind me.

"Um, yeah, I have to stop by the market first to pick up some things for Kasumi first." she told him.

"Ok. Mind if I tag along?" he asked her with a smile that made her heart race. Kami-sama he's good looking, and those eyes!

"Sure." she said and they left the school ground together. They walked in silence for a while, neither saying a word. Finally, she got up the nerve to say something. What the hell's the matter with me, I've never been tongue tied for a guy before?

"About this morning, you didn't have to do that. I can protect myself, I am a martial artist too." she said, the memory of his words both warming her heart and raising her ire at the same time.

"I knew you could take him, an infant could probably have kicked his ass." he said, she was about to say something when he spoke again. "No matter how you look at it he was trying to force himself onto you. That's wrong, and as a man and as a martial artist I couldn't let it continue. Women deserve a lot more respect than to be treated as trophies and prizes to be won or as possessions."

Akane gaped at him in astonishment. Was he for real, could there really be a boy like him in this world? A boy who respected girls, was it possible? He had to be too good to be true.

What he said next sent her mind racing. "I hate guys like him, people who try to force themselves onto others. He's no better than a rapist, and rapists do not deserve mercy." he said with a smoldering hatred in his eyes which stayed there for a moment then faded away.

"Ranma ... I," she began to say, then bow towards him in her best feminine manner. "Thank you, thank you very much." It took every ounce of will she had to say that, and she did she felt so much better for it. Her face was splotched by a bright red blush. She looked up and came face to face with his gentle smile. She suddenly felt weak in the knees, before she could fall over she saw him move with a speed that was impossible and catch her. In the back of her mind she heard a voice, a voice that spoke in the voice of her mother.

"If you let this one get away, if you don't at least try you will regret it for the rest of your life."

"Akane?" he concerned voice brought her back to reality. She found herself being held in his arms. Arms that were so powerful yet also so gentle at the same time. Akane blushed even more furiously but didn't try to move out of his embrace. Kami-sama, I only just met him and I'm already going ga-ga over him! Yet, she didn't really care. He was so very different from the boys at school, especially Kuno.

"Are you ok?" he asked her. She nodded and he gently helped her back to her feet.

"Must be the heat." she said fanning herself, but she knew it was a weak excuse. Little did she know that he knew the true reason why she almost fainted. Being a vampire did have its advantages.

"You still want to go to the market? I could carry you home and go shopping for you." he offered. The thought of being carried home by Ranma sounded both inviting and immensely embarrassing. What if some of the girls at school saw her? She continually told them that she hated boys. How was she going to explain her sudden change of heart? She would have to do so eventually if she and Ranma became engaged. However, she had some very strong competition against her. Namely her incredibly cute best friend and her sister who was the living embodiment of loveliness and serenity. How in Kami-sama's name was she going to compete with the likes of them?

"No, I'm ok. We should hurry, Kasumi doesn't like fixing dinner late." she said. Ranma let her go and for a brief moment she felt disappointment at no being in his arms. They went to the market, bought what Kasumi needed and made it home just in time. After taking the groceries to the kitchen Ranma went out into the yard to quietly check over the wards he put into place that morning. He stopped when he caught a glimpse of something ... interesting.

The middle Tendo sister knew exactly what she was doing. Despite the fact that she hadn't been on a date in many years she still knew how to manipulate boys. When her figure filled out after puberty getting them to do what she wanted go easier as her frontal assets began to expand, and expand, and expand. It was sunny in the yard so she decided to work on her tan before the sun went down too far. Dinner was well over an hour away so she had time, and she had a plan. Part of that plan included the new two piece bikini she had bought last summer but didn't get a chance to try on. Luckily it fit her very nicely after all this time. It was simply and covered all the right places with just enough cloth, otherwise it was barely there at all.

"What you looking at boy?" he heard Genma growl at him from the porch.

"W M Ds" he replied.

Genma scratched his bald head. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Weapons of Mass Distraction." The fat man looked over at what his son was looking at, and promptly rolled his eyes. In his youth he might have been swayed by the appearance of a beautiful girl in a skimpy bikini, but long years of abuse ... I mean training ... under the Master had hardened him and made him realize that women were nothing but trouble.

"Women are a distraction from the art, boy." he told his son. He knew Ranma wouldn't listen to him, and no matter what he did he couldn't get his son to do anything he said. Not since that day in China, not since he took his son to those people. The boy may have had a paper that said he was the master of their school, but he himself didn't really recognize said status.

Ranma followed the girl's curves with his eyes for a moment and said, "I'll say." She has got to be at least a D or E cup, he guessed to himself. Nabiki was satisfied with the wistful look on the boy's face and decided to give him a nice show. She sat up, spread her legs and stretched her body and arms towards her toes until her chest touched the ground in front of her. She looked over at the boy who's eyes had suddenly glazed over and a slight trickle of blood rolled out of his nose.

She sat up and laid down on her stomach. "Saotome." she called him. He didn't respond, it took a moment for her to realize he was in La-La Land.

"Ranma!" she shouted at him and he came out of his stupor.

"Huh?" he said blinking in surprise.

"Would you rub some lotion on my back?" she asked him in her best, most sultry tone. For added measure she reached back and untied her bikini top. If she played her cards right she'd have him eating out of her hands by dinner time. Genma sighed disgustedly as he retreated into the house. Ranma walked over to where Nabiki lay on he blanket and picked up her bottle of tanning lotion.

With gentle hands which to Nabiki were incredibly soft for a martial artist he began to rub on the lotion. Slowly at first, and then he began to message it in. Whatever he was doing it felt really good, soon Nabiki found herself starting to drift off to sleep his messaging felt so good. Kami-sama, not even Dr. Tofu can give messages like this, she realized.

"Mm mm." she moaned softly.

"You like it? Its the Saotome Anything Goes Cure All Stress Reliever Message, part message and part shiatsu technique." he explained.

"Feels like heaven." she slurred, still drifting in and out of a very relaxed daze.

"I modified it a bit to include sensitive pleasure shiatsu points found only on women's bodies." he continued to explain. "Did you know that women have over four thousand pleasure points and men only have one hundred?" He changed the motion of his fingers ever so slightly and the girl's body shivered and a moan escaped her lips.

"I can change the intensity with just the slightest movement of my hand." he said. "A tiny movement and the feeling can go from subtle to intense." His hand moved just barely and the girl's eyes shot open and she gasped out loud.

"OH KAMI-SAMA!" she cried and grasped the edge of her blanket tightly.

Satisfied he took away his hands and the girl visibly sagged with exhaustion. A few minutes later she tied her bikini top back on and sat up. A truly deep blush covered her from the shoulders up. She didn't have to inspect her bikini bottom to know she was wet down there. How in the name of Kami-sama did he learn to do that? And, was there a way she could profit form this? And, most importantly, how could she get him to do it again?

"Feel better?" he asked her with a warm smile.

"H ... H ... Hai." she stuttered, still trying to regain control. Her legs were still shivering from the pressure point induced orgasm. That is what it was, a very intense one at that. She should know, she knew how to use her special toys for just the same effect.

"Though I ... I really didn't need a back rub, but you won't hear me complain." she added after finally gaining some more control. He gave her his best charming smile and went into the house leaving a very stunned and embarrassed Nabiki. All this started out with her trying to seduce him, then somehow the tables were turned. If he could do that by just giving a back rub, what if they were ...? The thought boggled her mind.

These girls have all sorts of pent up frustrations, a realization that wasn't too hard for him to figure out. Ranma wasn't playing with their minds, he wasn't using his aura to sway them in any way. It was his own personal charisma and not his powers which were winning them over. He liked it that way, he didn't want to win them over using his powers, he didn't want to force them into liking him. He wouldn't mind a nice romp in the hay with that Nabiki girl, but he wanted her to decide it was what she really wanted and not something she wanted because he was influenced her into wanting it.

Night time didn't come soon enough for him. He sat in his room with the lights off listening for signs that everyone was asleep. His oyagi was already out cold in Panda form on his futon mat. There was no mistaking the buzzing sound coming from Nabiki's room, everywhere else he could hear snoring and steady breathing. He walked through the house as silently as a cat, perhaps even more silently. Kasumi had closed the doors to the back yard. He checked the wards, they were still in place and very strong. If that Dark wandering around ever show up here he would never be able to get in. With only a brief moment of concentration Ranma's form changed. His body became translucent and dissolved into a mist which spread across the floor. He seeped through the doorway and condensed back into physical form outside.

Time to hunt a Dark.

Finding a Dark who didn't want to be found was a difficult and nearly impossible task. Finding a Dark who thought he was the only other vampire in the area was going to be easier, assuming the Dark didn't know about him being in Nerima-ku. There really wasn't any way for the Dark to know Ranma was around, but the pigtailed martial artist wasn't going to take any chances.

The Order had taught Ranma how to think like a Dark in order to fight them. He knew the best places they liked to hunt without begin noticed. This usually applied to ordinary Darks, but this sonuvabitch was different. This thing was a pedophile. That would make finding him a lot harder, but getting this Dark off the streets was paramount. Not only was he killing people while feeding but he was raping young girls at the same time. The cops were powerless to do anything about it, and if they didn't find him they wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Ranma flew over the city and stretched out his senses. Locating this Dark was going to require every ounce of training he ever received. It was going to take time because the creep could be anywhere in the city. He could feel the heart beats of countless of multitudes of people below him. Nerima-ku was a small town but there were a lot of people in it. He knew who was a sleep, who was awake and who was getting it on, and a lot of people were getting it on. He checked these places out first, a very time consuming task which didn't produce any leads at all. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance he heard a scream. Locking onto the sound he launched himself skyward and raced as fast as he could toward where he heard it come from. His keen hearing picked up on the sounds of struggling, then he felt it. The sensation was like a shiver that ran down his spin, a cold uncomfortable feeling. There was Dark somewhere nearby.

Ranma locked onto the feeling of the Dark and dove. He smelled fresh blood, it was feeding. The feeling came from a small house several blocks from Tendo-ke. He floated down to an upper story window and looked in. The scene he came upon pissed him off. The Dark's victim was naked and very young. She was trying to struggle but her attacker was way to strong for her. The fresh blood Ranma had sensed wasn't from a bite on her neck. She had been a virgin, had been was the key word. There wasn't time to hesitate, the Dark hadn't started feeding yet but he was sufficiently distracted by what he was doing to not notice him. He flew through the window, grabbed the bastard off of the girl and threw him out of the window. The Dark snarled in rage as he righted himself in midair and flew back towards the house. Ranma and his fist met him part way knocking him back and into the ground.

"She's mine!" the Dark snarled as he picked himself up out of the crater his body made in the ground.

"She belongs to no one but herself." Ranma said in a deadly tone. He flicked his wrists and out of nowhere a pair of silver blades appeared.

"You're one of those Crimson Circle mother fuckers!" the Dark exclaimed.

Ranma advanced on him and said, "And I'm the last thing you'll ever see in this world."

"Go fuck yourself!" the Dark cried, and like any coward he took off flying in the opposite direction. He didn't get far, with a flick of his wrist the blade in his left hand impaled the creature through the back. The Dark squealed like a stuck pig and fell to the ground writhing in agony. Silver was painful for vampires, and weapons made of silver could seriously hurt them, even kill them. The Dark tried to reach around to grab the handle of the dagger but it was too far out of his reach. The blade was also serrated with hook like barbs insuring it didn't come loose. Ranma grabbed him and flew into the sky. The Dark cried out painfully when a pair of fangs pieced his neck. He felt his strength leaving him rapidly. Vampires could feed on other vampires, and some consider the blood of their own kind sweeter than that of humans.

"This is for all the little girls." Ranma said darkly, and his second blade plunged into the Dark's groin. The Dark scream and Ranma tossed him skyward. When the body reached its apex he raised his hands and with Amaguriken speed his fingers drew a rune sigil in the air. Ranma shouted a word in the arcane language of magic and the sigil erupted into a ball of fire. It shot out and hit the Dark reducing the thing to ashes within seconds.

The girl down in the house lay in a fetal position on her bed when Ranma returned to the house. He reached out with his powers when he felt the girl's fear and calmed her down.

"Forget. Sleep." he commanded when he touched her chin and kissed her on the forehead. The girl swooned, falling into his arms. He laid her down in the bed, pulled the overs over her and floated out of the window. He turned towards the destroyed window and against drew a complex sigil in the air. This one was different from the one for the fireball spell. He whispered the power word for the spell and the window reassembled itself and in a few seconds it was back to normal as if it hadn't ever been broken.

Detective Tanaka sat in his bedroom with a glass of sake. His sleeping wife lay on the bed naked, a blissful smile on her face. The window was open to allow the cool breeze to waft into the room. He took a sip of his glass and reached for a cigarette. When a shadow passed the open window he stopped and reached for the pistol sitting on the nightstand. He got up to go to the window when he saw a figure standing inside the bedroom. Reacting on instinct he brought up the gun then stopped when he recognized the vampire he'd spoken to the night before.

"The Dark isn't a problem anymore." said Ranma.

"Shhh. She might wake up. She's a lite sleeper." Tanaka warned him.

Ranma shook his head. "Only if I allow her to." Tanaka looked back at his wife and put the gun down.

"Was he difficult to deal with?" Tanaka asked him.

Ranma smiled, "He was what I knew he'd be, a coward. Didn't put up much of a fight at all, wasn't really even a challenge."

Tanaka thought for a moment and asked, "Is there a body? I'm going to need some evidence for the brass that this is over."

Ranma shook his head. "We can't allow that, a coroner would immediately realize something odd about the corpse. I called the Order, by morning you'll be a hero with your superiors."

Tanaka's jaw dropped and he asked, "How?"

"Enjoy the spotlight, you'll probably get a promotion." Ranma said.

Detective Tanaka turned and picked up the bottle of sake. He turned back around to say something to the vampire but he really wasn't surprise to see him gone. He sat down on the bed and took a draw from the bottle. He felt as if a huge weight were lifted off of his shoulders, the case was finally over.

"A parting gift, from a friend." Ranma said in the detective's mind. He felt a soft arm reach around from behind and a gentle kiss on the back of his neck.

"Anata, lets do it again. Please." his wife pleaded, her desire so strong her voice was quivering. It would be the best sex they ever had since their first honeymoon.

Ranma smiled when the first moans wafted up from the open window below. Damn, everyone else is getting laid but me., he thought to himself with a laugh. This would go a long way towards taking the stress off the man. He is job was a stressful one, he deserved a little bit of paradise. With his good deed done Ranma flew off into the night sky.

He felt good about helping people, that is what the Order was created for. The streets were quiet, he really didn't need to feed again for a while. The Dark's blood gave him a massive mana boost which would last for a long time. He still wanted to look around. A Dark had to have been turned by another Dark, where there was one there was usually two. After a few hours he didn't sense any other vampires anywhere in the city. It was going to be morning in a few hours so he decided to head home. He swooped low flying over a large compound surrounded by a decorative wall and low buildings which looked like they were a few centuries old. The grounds were very well maintained with a green house, cherry trees, and a large pond. The place even had a hot spring.

He was flying over the hot spring he heard a gasp from below. Looking down he saw a young woman laying on a blanket in the night air. She was naked, and her hand was ... woah! She was so rapt up in what she was doing that she didn't see him watching her from above. She moaned and her body twitched when she finally opened her eyes.

Her jaw feel open upon seeing a guy floating above her in the air. At first she wasn't sure what to say or do. One part of her screamed for her to cover herself and run for it, but the more powerful part of her mind overrode her better judgment. She sat up and clasped her hands beneath her chin.

"Kami-sama has sent me an angel." she said.

Ranma's eyebrow did a Spock Maneuver. Me? An angel? Not bloody likely, but why look a gift horse in the mouth. He floated down and into her arms. Two hours later he left a very satisfied young lady laying blissfully asleep in her bedroom. She'd been a screamer, he liked them when they were vocal. As he leapt away to travel the rooftops back home Kuno Tatawaki walked out into the yard with a massive yawn.

"I do wish my twisted sister would find a more dignified hour in which to sate her base lusts. Sasuke, my breakfast!"

Somewhere in the mountains of northern China.

"He is in Japan. My master."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, my master. Our people saw him and his fat father only three days ago on the east coast buying train tickets for Tokyo."

"Because of him my brother is dead. Those bastard from the Order killed him because of that fucking kid. He must pay."

"How would you like us to proceed? My master."

"Get me ... the Russian."

"With pleasure, my master."

In another part of China Hang Lee-sensi sat in his study at the monastery in the mountains. Before him was a large ancient tome which he read by candle light. He would have been able to read it even without the light due to the keenness of his vampiric vision. A knock came to the heavy wooden door to the study.

"Come." he said. The door creaked open to admit a young girl dressed in white robes. She was very pretty with long blond hair.

"Sensei, I'm afraid I bring some disturbing news." she said.

Hang Lee-sensei looked up from the book. The look on her face was troubling. "What is it, child?" he asked her.

"Our agents within the ranks of the Shangshi inform me that their leader has made out a contract for Ranma's head." she told him.

Hang Lee-sensei stood up and walked around his large table. "It was only a matter of time. We punished the one who turned him, the leader's own brother." he said.

"That ... that isn't the worst of it, sir." the girl said. "They ... they hired the Russian."

Hang Lee-sensei's eyes went wide with shock. "He isn't in the country is he?"

The girl shook her head. "No, he's expected to arrive in a few days, then go on to Japan though Hong Kong."

"Go now child, I need to make some calls. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." he said. The girl blushed and bowed before leaving. Hang Lee-sensei went across the room to a phone mounted to the wall.

"Get me our chapter house in Australia." he said into the handset. A new minutes later the call went through and he heard a voice on the other end.

"G'day, sensei, what can I do for you?"

"Powder, the Shangshi have put a contract out on Ranma. They hired the Russian." Hang Lee-sensei told him.

"Cricky! Where's the little bloke at right now?" Powder asked him.

"He made contact with a watcher in Nerima-ku outside of Tokyo. I'll give you the address. Is Sanangi there?" the ancient leader of the Order asked in reply.

"Yeah, the Sheila's here." Powder replied.

"Both of you get to Japan." Hang Lee-sensei commanded him and gave him the address for Tendo-ke. John Powder hung up the phone and turned to leave the room when the noticed his path blocked by a tall ebony skinned beauty with bright blue eyes and long jet black hair.

"Was that Hang Lee?" she asked him in a deep North African accent. Powder nodded.

"Ranma's in a bit of trouble, Sheila." he told her.

Sanangi folder her arms over her ample chest and asked, "What sort of trouble?" Powder really didn't want to tell her but she was going to find out anyway. Might as well get the fireworks over now.

"Them Shangshi blokes took out a contract on him." he said.

Sanangi shrugged, "Is that all, Ranma dear can handle himself."

"They hired Dragasoni." Powder replied. The African beauty's outburst nearly knocked him off his feet.

"WHAT! That man, no that THING, is an ANIMAL! Did Lee say where he was? Do they know where Ranma is?" she shouted at him.

Powder wiggled his finger in his ears to get rid of the ringing and said, "He hasn't left Russian yet, but once he gets to China he'll be going to Hong Kong." He was almost pulled off his feet again when Sanangi grabbed his hand and start pulling him through the building towards the motor pool.

"We're going to Japan NOW!" she said in a tone that brooked no interference.

Tendo Kasumi was happy to see her sisters warming up to Ranma so well. She was the only one among them who knew his secret, so she had some advantage over them in that area. Would they understand what he is if they learned the truth? Eventually they would have to know the truth about Ranma and what he was. If he married one of them they would have to be told the truth. She had been thinking about this for some time since he came to live with them the other day. She knew how her father would react. He'd panic and either cry until the house was flooded or pass out. There was no telling how Akane or Nabiki would react. Perhaps if she could convince them that Ranma was no danger to them. He had plenty of time to harm them in some way, they would be powerless against a vampire, yet he's been the perfect gentlemen. She decided that she would do her best to make Ranma's stay a pleasant one and to perhaps win him over if she could. She already earned some brownie points with him as a Watcher. But, if he took more of an interest in her sisters she wouldn't interfere.

"Day dreaming?"

"Huh?" she said, startled from her musings and blushed furiously when she saw whom it was who spoke.

"Sorry if I startled you, Kasumi-chan." Ranma smiled.

Kasumi blushed again and said, "No, I was just deep in thought is all."

"Must be deep thoughts indeed." he said with a smile which made her blush even more.

"Since I haven't had to call the contractor to come and repair the house I assume you are getting along with my sisters, especially Akane." she said as little form of revenge with a cute yet also mischievous smile.

Ranma shrugged and said, "We get along alright, though I sense a great deal of reluctance in Akane. I don't blame her for not trusting boys after what I saw at school yesterday."

Kasumi sighed. "Kuno Tatawaki." she replied.

She almost let out an audible "eep!" when she felt a pair of hands rest on her shoulders. Kasumi closed her eyes and sighed contentedly as those hands began to message her shoulders. "What do you know about him?" he asked her, speaking into her ear.

"Furinken High School was not always the way it is today. When I attended school there it was a nice place with decent students." she said in a very relaxed tone. Ranma made sure not to overdo it on the pleasure points. He did what he did with Nabiki because he felt that she needed it. As for Akane, nothing short of a grade A shagging would be enough to finally mellow her out. Kasumi was a very different sort of girl. One simply did not have a one-night-stand with a girl like her, she was a girl whom you treated like a treasure.

"What happened?" he asked her. He moved his hands further down her back, found a few tense muscles and concentrated on them.

"Ara, you are good at that." she said with a sigh.

"A good friend taught me. What made things change at Furinken?" he replied questioningly.

"It was always common knowledge that Kuno san's ottosan was the principle of the school, but he'd been missing for many years and so the Vice-Principle ran the school in his stead." she answered him. "Then, a year after I graduated Akane began to attend Furinken. Nabiki had already started the year before and so did a new student. Kuno Tatawaki. From what Nabiki told me everything at Furinken was normal until Akane began to attend classes there."

Ranma thought for a moment and asked, "Akane is the only girl he's been like this towards that you know of?"

Kasumi shook her head. "Nabiki didn't tell me everything, she would be the one to know since she attended school with him a year before Akane began attending."

She gasped and her knees went weak for a moment when a wave of inexplicable pleasure went through her. She fell backwards into Ranma's arms and just stayed there until the shiver in her legs ceased. Blushing an almost bright candy apple red she turned around and looked into his eyes.

"Arigato." she said softly.

"No problem." he replied kissing her softly on the forehead.

As he left he did his best to conceal the massive bulge in his pants. Man, if I keep this up I ain't gonna get through the week without bedding one of them or all of them. Hmmm, that's a thought. No! Down boy, down boy, you just met them you don't screw after two days. As he walked through the dinning room again Soun who was enjoying one last cup of tea before bedtime shivered and looked around the room nervously.

"Saotome, are you sure we used enough explosives when we put the sensei away?" he asked Ranma's father who sat next to him at the table.

Ranma want up the stairs to the second floor. Nabiki's room was right in front of the stairway. Akane's room was to the right down the hall and to the left was the guest room and Kasumi bedroom. He want to Nabiki's room and knocked on the door. It didn't take long for her to answer. He also got the impression that she'd been waiting for him too.

"I need to ask you about something." he said as he walked in. The middle Tendo sister closed the door and put her back to it when he entered. She was dressed in a robe that was almost like a casual kimono but not one of the more expensive types like what women usually wore at festivals.

"What about?" she asked. She's up to something, he could sense it.

"Is Akane the only girl that Kuno Tatawaki has been obsessed with?" he asked her.

Nabiki thought for a moment and said, "There was one other, but she transferred to another school about a month before Akane graduated secondary school and began to attend Furinken."

"I assume this transfer was because of Kuno." he said.

She nodded. "Kuno-chan was a ladies man for as long as I've known him, he even tried to chase after me but I taught him the error of his ways. Then he met Chitose."

"Chitose was very pretty, about as young as Akane, and a bit of a martial artist too." she said continuing her story. "She was very shy also, and I guess that's what caught his attention. Nobody really knows what happened except for me and I have never told anyone even if they offered to pay me."

"What happened?" Ranma asked her.

Nabiki bit her lower clip nervously and said, "Kuno-chan had been pressuring her into going out with him for a few months until finally she couldn't deal with it anymore and gave in. They went out on a regular basis for three months and then after that her parents had her transferred to St. Hebeke. That's an all girl's school on the other side of town."

"You know the reason why." he said looking into her eyes. He knew he didn't have to use his powers to get her to answer him.

"I never knew he was the kind of person to do this, he's a baka and an obsessed romantic but I never imagined this." she said. "The school did its best to bury what info there was about what happened but that isn't good enough to keep the info out of my hands. I found out that Kuno-chan had been pressuring Chitose for a little more than just dates during those last three months. Then, before she was transferred he decided that he heard 'no' from her one too many times."

Ranma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He raped her."

Nabiki nodded. "And then paid off her family rather handsomely and his lawyers forced them to sign a document that said they could never take this to the authorities or the Kuno clan would smear their daughter's honor in the mud so badly she'd never be able to attend college or get a job." she said.

The pigtailed boy was fuming when he started towards the door. Nabiki didn't move but just smiled at him and said, "About that back rub you gave me. I think its time I returned the favor." She let her robe fall off her shoulders revealing nothing underneath.

"Ara." he replied as a very naked Nabiki lead him towards her bed.

**Notes**

Ok, I'm a sick perverted bastard. I just hide it better than others. Anyway, this is one of the most Ecchi chapters I've written so far. Its good practice for the Lemon series I'm planning "Something Hentai This Way Comes". The story after this will get a little less horny and have more action, and it will start to turn dark. Ultimately I aim for this to be a dark comedy. I hope you like the story so far, I've pushed things a bit with his chapter but I'm still within guidelines. The Lemon will appear on Tex James' site at http/ when its done.


	4. Chapter 4

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

**oOOOo**

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

**oOOOo**

Ranma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He raped her."

Nabiki nodded. "And then paid off her family rather handsomely and his lawyers forced them to sign a document that said they could never take this to the authorities or the Kuno clan would smear their daughter's honor in the mud so badly she'd never be able to attend college or get a job." she said.

The pigtailed boy was fuming when he started towards the door. Nabiki didn't move but just smiled at him and said, "About that back rub you gave me. I think its time I returned the favor." She let her robe fall off her shoulders revealing nothing underneath.

"Ara." he replied as a very naked Nabiki lead him towards her bed.

**Chapter Four**

Tendo Nabiki dozed quietly with her head on Ranma's bare chest. His one free hand gently caressed her head as he watched her sleep. She had let go of so much pent up frustration, anger, and sadness that night. He smiled as he remembered how she desperately tried to keep from screaming out loud. Anyone woken up by the sound had a sudden and unexplainable urge to ignore the sound and go back to sleep. They wouldn't remember a thing in the morning. Nabiki wouldn't let him stop until she was so tired and worn out she couldn't stay awake anymore. She cried into his chest until finally falling into a blissful, contented sleep. Her tears were not of sadness, they were the tears of a girl who had finally let go of so much emotional baggage. When she wakes up in the morning he had no doubt that Nabiki would be a very different woman. She had been a virgin, he could tell by her smell even though her hymen was already broken. Likely that happened a long time ago when she perhaps studied the art the same way Akane does now. The only difference was she gave it up after their okasan passed away.

Ranma gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead then closed his eyes and concentrated. His physical form lost its color turning gray, then it became like mist ever so slowly so as to gently lower Nabiki down to the bed. The mist flowed out of the room, under her doorway and into the hall where it reconstituted into his physical form. He inspected the protective ward on her door before stealthily going downstairs. Being a vampire he didn't have to sleep very often. Once a week was more than enough, plus he had a job to do. He went outside closing the doors behind him and soared off into the night.

**oOOOo**

Shisumaru Tsubasa took one last drag off her cigarette before throwing the spent bud to the ground. It had been a really slow night. It was hot out despite it being dark and that meant no customers. No customers meant no money, and no money meant her pimp was going to seriously jack her ass. She was a veteran of the streets although being only seventeen years old. Her father had passed away after an accident at the construction yard where he worked. Her mother drowned her sorrows in the bottom of a sake bottle, then moved on to harder stuff. No money was coming into the house to keep the bills paid and food on the table, so young fourteen year old Tsubasa did what she had to do. There was no shortage of customers for an underage prostitute. She felt dirty after her first time, like she'd done something unspeakably horrible, but that night she looked at her mother passed out in her bedroom with a half empty bottle of Scotch in her hand. She realized at that moment that she was totally alone and had to do whatever was necessary to live. That night she cried herself to sleep, she wasn't a child anymore. Her innocence was gone forever, taken by a forty year old business man in the back seat of a Subaru.

She checked her watch. Her shift was almost over on this corner. Kaorin was scheduled to work this street soon. She was a young one, about sixteen. Tsubasa didn't have any sympathy for why the daughter of a corporate vice-president wanted to be a whore. She didn't hate the young girl, but she didn't like the reasons why Kaorin got into the business. Kaorin didn't need the money, she was doing it because she liked it. Tsubasa also suspected that she was doing it to get her father's attention. Kaorin got a thrill from all of the attention she got from the older men too. Tsubasa pitied the girl more than anything. This wasn't a game, being a prostitute was a dangerous business, it wasn't a game. You learned to tread lightly in this business or it would grind you up like hamburger. Tsubasa had a mentor who helped her learn how to survive in this business, how to placate the bosses when they got pissed off, and to know when to run like a sonuvabitch. Her pimp was Yakuza, you don't fuck with these people if you plan on growing old and gray, and Tsubasa planned on living long enough to see her grandchildren. Assuming she ever had kids. It was pretty amazing she never got pregnant in all of this time. Her boss forbid condoms, his clients wanted the all-natural experience when it came to little girls. Sick dirty old bastards, every one of them!

She might live this lifestyle and do this to make a living but it didn't mean she liked it. In fact, if she could Tsubasa would tell her pimp to go fuck himself and get on the first train out of this shit-hole of a city, but she signed a contract with him. She was his until she turned eighteen, then she could do whatever she wanted. Until then she was expected to do as she was told. Kaorin was green, and if she kept burning her candle on both ends like she was she wasn't going to live to see next year. Getting raped on the job was one of the dangers of working the streets. Kaorin hadn't experienced that yet, this was still a game to her. For Tsubasa, it was par for the course. She lost count of the number of times her customers raped her instead of paying their bill. Of course, most of them didn't live very long. You don't fuck with the Yakuza's money.

Her watch beeped and she heaved a heavy sigh. Her shift was over, she was free for the night. Well, free unless her boss wanted to "punish" her for not brining in any money. It happens sometimes, especially during the summer like this when everyone was trying to stay cool. Kaorin came bounding up the street in her cutesy pink dress and pigtails. The girl was made up like a doll. It was a look that made her very popular with the older men.

"Hi, Tsubasa-chan." said Kaorin cheerfully.

"Don't look so chipper, its gonna be one of those nights again." Tsubasa told her.

Kaorin frowned, "No johns?"

Tsubasa shook her head. "This place is deader than a cemetery. I'm roasting. I'm going home, take a long cold shower and sleeping until noon." she said as she walked away.

"Ja ne!" the doll-like child prostitute waved cheerfully to her. Kami-sama, if you have any mercy please don't let this lifestyle kill that little girl., Tsubasa prayed as she turned the corner.

Neither of them noticed the figure watching them from above. It flew from rooftop to rooftop watching them. Ranma felt pity for the young woman. He could feel her despair coming from her in waves, it was as if it were a physical force onto itself. His job was dealing with things the local police would never survive against, but that didn't mean he couldn't help people in need for other reasons. The girl was pretty, very pretty actually and it was waste for her to have to live like this. It was also very dangerous. He would also have to do something about the little girl on the corner. He just couldn't leave her out here even though he got the impression that she liked what she was doing.

Ranma came out of his thoughts when he heard a sharp slap reverberate down the quiet street. His keen senses focused on its source and he flew towards it at top speed. The young prostitute was holding her cheek beneath a streetlight at another corner. A big man in a plaid business suit loomed over her.

"What do you mean you didn't get any Johns?" he growled at her angrily.

"There ain't nobody out tonight." Tsubasa told him in a shaky voice. She knew this was coming, it wasn't the first time. It was the punishment she hated the most, her boss always made her entertain his underlings. She hated them, all of them.

"Ok, then you're gonna give me and the boys a good time to compensate for it, bitch!" the big gangster yelled at her and grabbed her arm.

There was a sound like a loud swoosh behind the big man and a voice said, "Let her go, it is the only warning I will give."

The big man turned and growled, "This ain't none of your business punk, go the fuck home!" He still held the young girl's arm tight.

"I warned you," was the only warning Ranma gave the man before moving in for the attack. The Yakuza thug was very quick on the draw, before Ranma could reach him he had a .45 Magnum in his hand and fired. One then two bullets hit Ranma in the chest knocking him back. Tsubasa screamed for the man to stop but he kept shooting, each bullet knocked the pigtailed martial artist back a little more but he didn't fall. Ranma stood with his head down for a moment looking as if he might fall over. The big man sneered at him waiting for the inevitable.

The thug heard a sound that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. The boy he just hit with six bullets was ... laughing. Ranma looked up, rarely did he vamp out on anyone, his facial features distorting into something not quite human with yellow eyes. "My turn," Ranma said exposing his fangs as he spoke. The big man screamed as he fired off the two remaining rounds in his clip, but they were unable to stop the thing in front of him. Tsubasa got loose from the thug and started running. She didn't look back, something within her told her she didn't want to look back. She ran for two locks when she saw a blur beside her and the pigtailed boy was in front of her. She skidded to a halt and started to run in the other direction, but when she turned around there he was again.

"You're safe now, he can't hurt you anymore." Ranma told her.

"W ... What a ... a ... about y ... y ... you?" she asked in voice that clearly showed that she was nearly terrified beyond rational thought. She knew what he was, there was no denying what her eyes had seen. It was impossible, vampires were only in the movies not in real life.

"Here take this," Ranma said and reached towards her to hand her something. "Go get your little friend off that street corner and goto the nearest train station. Get out of town." Tsubasa snatched whatever it was from him and stepped back, her mind screamed for her to run but for some reason her body wouldn't obey that command. She looked at the thing in her hand and gasped. She was holding a wad of bills, five ten thousand yen bills to be exact.

Vampires don't give you money, they bite your neck, don't they?, she asked herself as she looked up at the young man. "They'll come looking for us." she told him.

Ranma replied, "Not if they don't remember you even existed." And he gave her his best trademark "make the girls quiver" smile. Now that he was up close he noted that she was very pretty. She had no business making a living like this.

"I don't have anywhere to go, I have no family, no parents. I'm all alone!" the girl said as she hung her head and started to cry. She felt a pair of arms encircle her and for an instant she panicked, then she felt wave after wave of calm wash over her. Tsubasa melted into the boy's embrace, never had she ever felt more safe and secure in her entire life than at that moment.

"It hurts so much, ottosan died then okasan started getting drunk. She died in the hospital of liver failure a year ago, I don't have anyone left." she sobbed into the boy's chest as he gently patted her head soothingly. His aura was calming her, this was one of the times in which he had no problems in using it. He let her cry it out for a while, it wasn't good to keep all that hurt bottled up inside.

"A ... A ... Are you real?" she asked him when the crying stopped and she looked up into his lite blue eyes.

"I'm a friend," he told her. "Take that money, got get your friend on the corner and start a new life somewhere far away from here. Nobody will be looking for you." It would be a simple task to go back to the thug and extract any info he needed form his mind. Nobody would be looking for these two girls because none of knew of her would remember her. Sometimes he just loved being a vampire.

"Arigatoo." she thanked him and looked at the wad of cash he'd given her.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked him gesturing with the hand that held the money.

Ranma smiled. She knew the streets, she knew Japan's criminal underworld. Though she was no expert she did have good insights. Perhaps she might make a good Watcher. Tsubasa staggered back a half step, she felt a moment of disorientation. When it was gone she suddenly "knew" things ... things she'd never known before.

"Goto that address in Osaka and they will help you and your friend. They will help you get a place and enrolled in school. They will also give you training." he told her.

"To be a Watcher." she said as she searched this new "memory". The idea of a good guy band of vampires of rather amazing. The idea of a secret society who helped them was fascinating, it was like something out of a manga. She really like anime and manga.

"Consider it payment in return for me helping you today." he said with a smile.

Tsubasa blushed and as she left to go get Kaorin she said to him, "Arigato, arigato-gosaimasu." He watched her run off in the direction the younger girl was located down the street. They would be alright, the order's people in Osaka would take good care of them. He had to take care of some business first. It didn't take long to get what info he needed from the thug he left unconscious. He and one other were the only ones who knew about the two girls. The info he extracted had an address. Ranma flew there, it wasn't far away, and did a little memory management. Sometimes it was great to be a vampire.

**oOOOo**

Somewhere in China.

"You zummoned me, comrade."

"I have a job for you."

"Da. At my usual rate of course."

"There is someone I want you to eliminate, but I don't just want him killed. I want him destroyed, I want anyone around him destroyed. I want him to suffer before he leaves this world. Do you understand, Dragasoni?"

"Da, that is my specialty, comrade. Zo who is it that has earned your ire?"

"His name is Saotome Ranma. He is with the Crimson Circle."

**oOOOo**

Two gaijin walked out of Tokyo International Airport. Now that in itself isn't all that unusual since Tokyo is visited by thousands of tourists every day of the year, but these two were not mere simple tourists. One was a short man with tanned skin and a rugged face, he wore khaki shorts with a matching short leave top. His head sported a Paul Hogan style hat ringed by crocodile teeth at the top. On his bad was a small back pack. His companion was totally different by contrast, and she drew quiet a few admiring looks from gaijin and Japanese men alike. She was not very tall, perhaps only five foot one. Her long, jet black hair hung down to her waist. Her skin was ebony black, her eyes bright blue. She wore a kimono which would have looked out of place on an African woman except for the fact that it actually accentuated her natural beauty. It was clear from the cut of the kimono that she had a body underneath, the shoulders were wide revealing a generous amount of cleavage.

"Tokyo, ain't been here in a long while." John Powder said.

The African beauty replied, "We need to hurry. Dragasoni must be in China by now."

"Aye, Sheila. We need to find a train to Nerima." said John as he looked at all of the signs labeled in Kanji and Kana. "Cricky, my Japanese is gotten rusty."

Sanangi pointed towards a low building across the street from the main terminal and down a ways south. "That's the train station, love." she told him.

"Since when did you learn Japanese, Sheila?" he asked her as they went in that direction.

She smiled and said, "I didn't, I'm using a translation charm." She indicated the rune engraved pendent resting neatly in the middle of her cleavage.

"Oie! That cheating now!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"Only because you didn't think of it first, love." she replied with a laugh.

"Oh sugar." John swore and reached for his own pendent which he kept in a small pouch on his back pack.

They were inside the train station when Sanangi pulled out her cell phone. "Hello, Master Lee, its Sanangi. We're in Tokyo and are headed for Nerima now." she said after dialing. "No, we haven't seen 'him' yet but I'm sure he'll be skulking about real soon. Yeah, John is with me. Alright we'll report in when we reach the place Ranma is staying." She closed the flip phone with a snap and turned to her friend.

"The beast has left China, we got maybe a three or four hour lead on the bastard." she told him.

John smiled at her reassuringly. "Aye, Sheila, no worries. The bloke's gotta find the boy first, be we already know where the boy is." he said.

"Dragasoni's got connections, friends in the underworld," she replied. "Him finding Ranma isn't a matter of if ... but when."

John frowned at her and said, "You got a really dreary outlook on life, Sheila."

Sanangi smiled at him. "Not always. Just don't you be forgetting what kind of monster we're up against here." she replied.

Powder's expression turned dark when he said, "Aye, Sheila. I'll never forget about that."

**oOOOo**

The rest of the night was rather uneventful. Well, uneventful for a place like Nerima-ku. Taking care of those pesky memories ate up a lot of his free time. At least he got his feeding out of the way. One of the most important codes of honor in the Order of the Crimson Circle is that you do not feed on innocents unless they give you permission. Anyone else is fair game. A mugger in the park at the edge of Nerima-ku city limits topped him off for the night.

The pigtailed vampire turned his thoughts to Kuno-sempai. From what Nabiki told him he got the impression that the wannabe samurai was going to be a rather significant problem. For one thing he was obsessive, delusional, and above all arrogant to the extreme. He took his samurai heritage seriously, which wasn't a bad thing, but Kuno took things too far. He used his heritage like a bludgeon and beat people over the head with it day in and day out to prove his social superiority. One didn't make many friends that way, and any that Kuno might have are probably his friends because of two things. One, they're afraid of him, or two they think it makes them look important or cool to hang around with him. Thus the situation with the Hentai Horde. That was something Ranma was determined to put a stop to. He doubted that Kuno would keep his word about stopping the attacks against Akane because he lost. Someone like Kuno never admits he was defeated, at least not fairly.

Ranma decided he was going to find out where Kuno lived and make a plan of attack. The baka had a weak mind, influencing him was going to be rather easy, yet something in the back of the young martial artist's mind told him to be cautious. But why? His Warrior's Sense was screaming at him to be careful.

Ranma arrived at Tendo-ke just as the others were beginning to wake up. Nabiki was one of the first to come staggering down the stairs. When she saw Ranma sitting in the dinning room sipping tea she blushed with incredible ferocity. Ok, you seduced him last night, now what do you do? Didn't think that one through did you, Nabiki no baka! But, his hands, he was go good with his hands. Oh, calm down, this isn't like me, yet last night was so ... wonderful. Wait, he probably thinks I'm one of those girls who sleeps around with anybody now. He thinks I'm a loose woman! Dammit, what the hell do I do, I can't throw money at this to make it go away, not this time!

"Wanna join me, Nabiki-chan?" Ranma said breaking her out of her internal argument. Blushing so hard she looked like she might burst, the middle Tendo sister took a seat next to him but not too close. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to control herself if he touched her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked in a soft concerned manner.

"I ... I ... I'm alright." she replied.

"I don't think anything less of you if that's what might be thinking." he said to her.

"Um, uh." she stammered, completely unable to come with something to say.

His smile was warm, his eyes shined with kindness when he looked at her and said, "I could feel it, the loneliness inside you screaming in agony. I've heard the boys at school talk, I know you don't have a favorable reputation with them. Its their loss if they reject you."

"R ... R ... Ranma-kun." she said again at a loss for words. Then, he put his hands out to cover hers. His touch sent a shiver up her arm and down her spin. She remembered how incredible those hands felt when they made love last night. It was amazing how gentle those hands were. They were able to shatter brink and bend metal one minute, then were soft and gentle the next.

"I saw the real Nabiki last night. The warm, loving, tender hearted Nabiki. It would be nice if she came out more often." he said with a smile.

He could feel her withdraw a bit emotionally and she said, "I have a reputation to uphold, appearances to be kept. If I don't then everything I've worked for will fall apart."

Ranma squeezed her hands gently and she reacted by softly caressing his fingers with her own. "Because of your family." he said.

She nodded. "Yeah, if I didn't do what I had to do we would have been out on the street." she replied.

"But I'm helping out now. And as long as I'm here I won't let this family go without." he told her.

Nabiki shook her head. "I know, arigatoo, and I know what we talked about before but ..." A shiver ran up her spine as she felt his hand touch hers. It took all of her will power not to throw herself at him in uncontrollable lust. Maybe I overdid it a little with the pleasure points, Ranma told himself and moving faster than the eye could see he quickly hit a few pressure points on Nabiki's neck. He hit them so fast she barely noticed anything other than a brief but strange sensation. Almost immediately her feeling of uncontrollable lust eased considerably, but not entirely. She still wanted him in the worst way, but in this state she wasn't on the verge of raping him in the dinning room.

"I care about you and your family. I'll do all I can to help as long as I'm living here. Unlike my father I will not be a freeloader." he told her as he took her hand and messaged it softly.

A tear threatened to fall from her eye when she said, "Arigato, Ranma-kun. You know I've only known you for like a day or so but you're so different from any of the other boys at school I know. You're definitely nicer, more mature, and ... well ... "

"What I think your trying to say is I'm rather well experienced?" he asked her and Nabiki blushed furiously.

"Don't worry, its our little secret. Our fathers will never know." he whispered to her as Soun came down the stairs. Before the reach the dinning room the two teens had separated and sat across from one another at the table.

"Good morning Ranma-kun. Nabiki-chan." the man said as he took his place at the head of the table. His morning paper was already sitting there waiting for him. Kasumi came out of the kitchen and poured him a cup of morning tea. Ranma was a bit thankful for small miracles. School was out for today which meant he could spend more time doing other things rather than playing acting as a teenager. Technically he still was a teenager in body, but certainly not in mind. He wanted to do some training and he wanted to get to know the other Tendo sisters better. Well, he certain got to Nabiki very well last night. He somehow doubted that Akane would be incline to sleep with him anytime within the foreseeable century, but Kasumi was certain a promising prospect. She was beautiful, had an awesome body, and was one of the sweetest, kindest people he'd ever known. Well, there was one other but he recently learned that she was spoken for. Some poor sap in Nekomi, Japan was a very lucky sonuvabitch.

Breakfast was pretty good. It seemed like there was nothing that Kasumi couldn't make that didn't take like a little piece of heaven. Eating wasn't really a problem for Ranma, his body didn't really need it but he still consume food for sake of appearances. People would start asking inconvenient questions if he never ate anything. His father tried to stop him from helping Kasumi with the dishes in the kitchen. A dangerous glare from his son stopped Genma in his tracks. The panda man sat back down and hid behind one of Soun's discarded sheets of newspaper. After helping Kasumi out in the kitchen Ranma went out into the yard to do a few workout exercises. This was one of the other things he really didn't have to do anymore. As a vampire he would stay the way he was forever, never aging, never growing old, and never going out of shape. The older he got a vampire the stronger he would get, but he liked doing kata and practice exercises. To him the kata and exercises were soothing and relaxing.

Akane came out onto the back porch to watch him. She looked on in awe at how graceful his moves were. Ranma seemed to turn martial arts into a form of dance. He brought "art" to the martial arts in a way she'd never seen before. A part of her felt envious and angry because it was pretty clear that he was way better than she was, but she didn't go on a ten year training journey around all of Southeast Asia either. Ranma went way above anyone she knew including Kuno. He was certainly far above any current Dan ranking that she could see. How anyone could reach such an incredible level of physical prowess and martial arts skill was amazing.

Ranma was so focused on his kata that he didn't notice Akane watching him. He was in his own little world at the moment. All that there was and would ever be were him and the art meshed together as one. He came to the end of the exercise and opened his eyes for the first time during the whole thing and saw Akane sitting on the porch watching him with a transfixed expression. He saw the hunger in her eyes, not the kind of hunger he was used to seeing from young women who ever watched him doing his katas, but a hunger of another kind.

"Want to spar?" he asked her noticing that she was dressed in her gi. The girl literally jumped at the chance, her eyes blazing red hot with anticipation. The gi was loose fitting but his unique senses told him she has a nice body underneath. He'd had to explore that part of her later if he got the chance. She was going to be one hell of a shell to crack. Ranma could detect interest in him in her mind, but there was still a lingering reluctance in her sub conscience. Damn you Kuno-no-baka!

"Sure!" Akane exclaimed eagerly and took a fighting stance that almost made Ranma cringe. This girl was a diamond in the rough, she certainly was eager and had a lot of power but still didn't have the skill to be a class A martial artist. Ranma was determined to change that. The girl showed so much potential it would be a crime to just waste it.

"Begin!" he shouted and moved in. His attack came in at half its normal speed, which was still pretty fast and not at full power. Akane, he noticed, tended to put all of her strength into her attacks instead of using her body's momentum to add power to punches and kicks.

"Don't put so much power behind your strikes, you'll tire out faster that way. Let your body's momentum add power to the strikes. Don't think about your moves, let your body react on its own." he told her as they danced around the yard exchanging and dodging blows. He sense her frustration rising but she was trying to do what he suggested. When she managed to block three of his incoming punches her eyes lit up like a thousand suns and the spar moved into a whole new phase.

The battle moved into the dojo with the two dancing around each other dodging and attacking but not really getting an upper hand. This was a training exercise, not a real fight though. Ranma decided to ramp it up a bit. The girl had a bad temper. If she was going to be a good martial artist she would have to learn to control it. Getting uncontrollably mad during a fight could be fatal. Getting Akane mad wasn't going to be that hard. Ranma knew exactly which buttons to push. The one thing that brought her rage out faster than anything else was what he intended to do next.

With a move that seemed as fast as lightning he reached in past her defenses and copped himself a nice feel on her left breast. Hmm, cup size C, will expand when unwrapped, not bad he thought. Akane's face turned blood red and her rage boiled over.

"HENTAI!" she screamed and threw herself at him in a blind rage. Tears fell from her eyes, he could feel betrayal in her thoughts. Maybe doing that wasn't exactly a good idea, but it was a lesson she needed to learn. The ironclad defenses the girl had been able to put up against him before withered away to nothingness leaving her wide open from multiple direction. He took her down with one leg swipe and pounced on top of her.

"HENTAI NO BA ..." she tried to scream at him but he covered her mouth. Her eyes went wide with terror and her body began to tremble. He had her arms pinned and in this position he could do anything he wanted to her. Sensing this he let her up but didn't let go of her arms. She was still shaking when she looked at him with a frightened, betrayed expression.

"Baka! What if this had been a real fight? What if your life or your innocence depended on winning? If I were a real opponent I could have done anything I wanted to you just now." he scolded her.

"You groped me and I thought you were different!" Akane blurted and tried to get out of his grip but his hands were like iron bands.

"Get over it! You're a beautiful girl and guys are going to try to grope you in a fight. Getting mad is your worst and deadliest flaw. When you get mad you loose focus, and loosing focus in a real fight can be fatal. It could even get you raped!" he told her shaking her to try and knock some sense into her. Finally what he was saying began to sink in and the girls collapsed onto his chest crying.

"I didn't do what I did to hurt you, Akane-chan. I did it to help you." he said as he gently stroked her hair. Her body was wracked by sobs. Gently Ranma pulled the girl into his lap and held her close. Akane latched onto him, his words sinking in deep. She'd been terrified and angry but there was no way she could deny what he said. Again, she'd been too quick to judge someone, yet ...

There was that reluctance again. Deep within her Ranma could sense that part of her which wouldn't let the girl trust anyone who was a guy, or least a guy her own age. It was a deeply seeded fear which was going to take extreme measures to get rid of. She wasn't going to be able to grow as a martial artist unless she got rid of it, but it was so deeply rooted into her psyche that Ranma saw no other way to remove it. He didn't like taking advantage of girls in any situation, but this was a special case. Akane needed help right now. She'd been allowed to stay this way for too long. As for Kuno, the one who caused all of this, his punishment was going to swift and terrible. Hell would seemed like a calm picnic after he was done with the boy.

With one free hand Ranma draw a rune in the air and invoked the spell. The doors to the dojo closed and a red aura appeared around them making it impossible to open. He'd only done this once before after being taught the technique. The girl he did it for had been very ... aggressive. When he was finished she was as calm and pleasant as Kasumi. Well, he sort of over did it with that girl but she was an extreme case.

Ranma pressed two pressure points on Akane's shoulder and the girl gasped and bent backwards. He flipped her around so she was sitting on his lap and reached down into her gi bottom. Akane grabbed his arm with a protest on her lips, but it was gone in an instant and replace by something else entirely. She dug her nails into his arm, not to stop him, but to keep herself from screaming.

"Gomen, Akane-chan. But I think we need to nip this anger problem of yours in the bud right now." he said to her softly and concentrated on the technique. The technique worked once the recipient stopped resisting. The first time he did this the girl resisted for hours. Akane didn't last ten minutes.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Smiling, Ranma withdrew his hand and held a now unconscious and exhausted Akane in his arms. The spell vaporized when he approached one of the doors. He would have to answer too many questions from the fathers if he carried Akane in through the house so he opted to go in through the bedroom window. Once there he laid the girl on her bed. She was covered in sweat and her gi bottom was sopping wet. A simple spell cleaned her up and dried out her clothes without undressing her. When she wakes up, she was going to be a whole new woman. No girl ever went through that special technique without being dramatically changed by it. A lot of her anger was going to be gone, not all of it, but a great deal of her problems which stemmed from it were going to be gone.

He went back out through Akane's window and went into the yard. Nabiki was on the back porch with a peculiar look on her face. "Was that my little sister I heard?" she asked him.

With an innocent face he replied, "We were sparring."

She smirked and said, "Must have been one hell of a spar for her scream that loud."

Damn, should have put up a sound dampening spell too. "Yeah, we sort of over did it." he said scratching the back of his head.

"So that's why you had to carry her up to her room through her bedroom window?" she asked coyly.

Damn this girl is observant for a mortal! "Uh, about that. We didn't do what you might think we did." he told her. Nabiki folded her arms like she wasn't buying it.

"You're sister has rage issues. They're too deeply seeded to get rid of easily without lots and lots of therapy so ... I too steps." he admitted to her.

Her curiosity peaked by that she said, "Well, I do have to admit you are right about that. So what did you do to her?"

"A pressure point technique I learned in China. Its meant to eliminate stress in women." he told her which was the truth. Well it was a partial truth. The technique was originally developed by the Musk to subdue women they captured or to make animals turned into human women at Josenkyo more controllable. The Joketsuzoku adopted the technique as a way to calm down overly aggressive warrior women and as a method of stress relief. Performed by a practitioner who knew what they were doing the recipient came out of the experience a changed woman. Her mood took a complete one-eighty, even her sexual preference could also change if the practitioner happened to be a woman.

"Sounds interesting." Nabiki said with a hungry look in her eyes.

"She'll sleep for most of the day." he told her.

"So, where in China did you learn this technique?" Nabiki asked him and wondered if the boy was holding out on other unique techniques she might find "interesting".

"Well, at this village in the Baya ... MOVE!" Ranma exclaimed suddenly as his sixth sense went to Defcon five. He shoved Nabiki out of the way as a lithe figure landed where she'd been standing. His attacker look up at him with a smile on her ebony face and a feral look in her eyes. Ranma instantly fell into an advanced fighting stance. This was a fight where did not have to hold back one bit and even then he was going to be hard pressed. Nabiki didn't know what the hell was going on. Some dark skinned girl, a very beautiful dark skinned girl that is, suddenly appear out of nowhere and started attack Ranma. She turned to run into the house when she was stopped by a huge man in a wide brimmed hat ringed by crocodile teeth.

"No worries Sheila. Sanangi just wants a little fun with the bloke. Ain't seen him in a long time she has." the man said in perfect Japanese with a obvious Aussie accent.

The ringing of steel drew her attention. Nabiki whirled around to see the two combatants fighting with dual swords up on the wall surrounding the house. Where they both got the weapons was the last thing on her mind at the moment. The fight was fast and furious and to Nabiki's untrained eye it looked very real. For all she knew Ranma was in real mortal danger. The weapons were silver, so there was a real danger for him but she didn't know about that. She was unable to see the subtleties of the battle, how Ranma and his attacker seemed to match each other's moves with mirror like accuracy. Sanangi learned to fight a long, long, long time before Ranma was even born but she'd never met a fighter with anything close to his skill level. While it looked like she had the upper hand in the fight in truth she was barely holding her own. It had been a long time since she was able to best him in any fight. Back then he wouldn't fight women, she cured him of that quick.

It was good to see his old friends again. He was really happy to see Sanangi especially, but he was curious as to why they were here. The fight was something they almost always did when they met up with one another. They did it to keep in practice. Sanangi also likened martial arts to making love. Ranma wouldn't argue with that notion. Seeing and sensing apprehension from Nabiki the pigtailed martial artist decided it was time to end the fight though he could have gone on for hours like this with the beautiful former African princess. With a quick move he disarmed Sanangi and caught her up into a tight hold with one of his blade at her neck. They stood at and angle so Nabiki wouldn't see that one of his hands was cupping something large and soft.

"Still not wearing a bra I see." he whispered.

"I never heard you complain about that before love." Sanangi replied lustily then dropped down out of his grasp and kicked him into the yard. Before he could get up the woman was on top of him, her tongue seeking in the inside of his mouth eagerly. Nabiki looked on in absolute awe.

Down below John Powder started laughing and said, "Alright you two, get a room now."

"Ara! Um ... uh ... Ranma-kun? Are these friends of yours?" Kasumi asked after coming out on the porch to see what all of the commotion was all about. Soun and Genma were there was well. He took one look at John and the huge survival knife strapped to his side and made a quick exit stage left. Soun saw what was happening on the ground and went nuclear as usual.

"Ranma-kun! What is the meaning of this!?" he demanded.

"That was my line." Nabiki mumbled under her breath as the pigtailed martial artist finally got to his feet

"Hope I didn't cause you any trouble, love?" Sanangi asked Ranma as she dusted the dazed boy off.

Ranma swallowed hard, he'd almost forgotten how forward the former African princess could be. "Nothing I probably can't handle." he said.

"No worries, mate. Ranma and Sanangi go way back. Just friends is all." John said slapping Soun on the back and nearly knocking him off the porch.

"And you are?" the crying man asked as he whirled around to face the big Aussie.

"Johnathan Lehan Powder, at your service. Ranma's me old mate from China. Been a way too long, eh?" John replied and waving towards Ranma.

Ranma walked up and slapped him on the shoulder. "When did you two get to Japan?" he asked him.

"Last night. John here almost got us lost finding the right trains to get here." Sanangi said with a smirk.

"Trouble love, we'll explain later when we can be alone away from the mortals." the African princess said to Ranma via a projected thought. Ranma sent a thought back to her acknowledging that he understood.

"Its wonderful to meet some friends of Ranma-kun's. Please make yourself at home. Would you like some tea?" Kasumi asked as she came out onto the porch with the tea service.

"Sorry about that earlier, Tendo-san. Uh, Sanangi can be overly friendly." Ranma said to Soun to calm the man down and reached into his mind to help ease the man's mood a bit at the same time.

"Oh, well, it was just a misunderstanding then. I'm very happy to meet some of Ranma's friends. Welcome to my home." Soun said joyfully shaking the newcomers' hands.

Sanangi looked around at the house and dojo and said, "Very beautiful home you have here. Nice classical Edo period architecture." This stroked Soun's ego a bit and the man puffed up proudly.

"Thank you, this home has been the Tendo clan for many generations." he said.

Still not quite sure to make of her arrival and usual greeting, Nabiki walked up to Sanangi and asked her, "How long have you and Ranma been friends?"

Sanangi knew the look of jealously when she saw it and answered, "Since he was a very young. I took him under my wing for a time and taught him all that I know."

Ranma rubbed his right shoulder and laughed, "Yeah, and I used to have the bruises to prove it."

"She considers you to be hers, love. Is there something I should know?" Sanangi asked him telepathically.

Ranma scratched the back of his head but didn't have to say anything, Sanangi already put the piece together. "How does she compare to me?" she asked telepathically.

"Very close." he replied telepathically.

The African princess' eyebrow went up in surprise. "Would you and Ranma be an item by any chance, love?" she asked Nabiki. The middle Tendo sister blushed furiously. She realized how she'd been acting, it was a one time things what she and Ranma did, so why was she being so defensive about somebody showing him attention? They'd only just met, its not like she loves him after only a couple of days. Right? Maybe?

"We've gone out." she replied.

"Ranma-kun is obligated to marry one of my daughters to join our two martial arts schools. Its a honor bound agreement made before he was born. Ranma-kun and my daughters have asked for time to get to know one another before committing to anything." Soun said to Sanangi.

"I see." she said giving Ranma an amused look.

"Arranged marriages? I thought they went out with Paul Hogan movies, mate." John commented.

Inside the house Kasumi went to set the dinning room table and saw Genma sitting there looking at the newspaper. "Oh, Saotome-san, some of Ranma's friends from China have come for a visit. Isn't that thoughtful of them?" she said with a smile that could melt a witch's heart.

"Uh, yeah, sure." he said trying not to look terrified out of mind. The last time he'd met the pair they threatened to rip him apart and feed him to the sharks in Sea of Japan if he mistreated Ranma ever again. This had happened when the pair had been in Hong Kong looking for transport to Japan after they left Josenkyo and the Crimson Circles temple.

**oOOOo**

Nightfall came none too soon for Ranma and his friends. Ranma spend some of that time making up with Nabiki over Sanangi's arrival. He wasn't about to mess with her mind like he did her father. She didn't deserve it while her old man was just an idiot. After a long make out session she was finally convinced and went to bed. Finally assured that everyone was a sleep the pigtailed boy met up with his friends on the roof. He did bring one guest with him.

"Kasumi is a Watcher, so anything you say to me can be said in front of her." Ranma told his old friends. Kasumi looked nervous, these people were vampires like Ranma, and though she had grown up around vampires part of her life she was still nervous around them. The only one she was not nervous to be around was Ranma.

"The Shangshi are mighty pissed off at ya, Ranma me old bloke." John told him.

"Shangshi?" Kasumi said questioningly to Ranma.

"Chinese vampires, all darks, and not a pleasant lot to meet in a dark alley." he told her. Kasumi looked frightened but felt as ease as the pigtailed boy put her arm around her protectively. Sanangi didn't miss the silent communication between the two and just smiled.

"They hired a hit man to take you out." Sanangi told him.

"A real nasty bloke. He's called the Russian. Name's Vladamir Dragasoni." John added.

Sanangi said with a snarl of anger, "He's even less human than we are. He's a beast! An animal!"

"Is this guy coming here?" Ranma asked them, holding Kasumi close to calm her growing fears.

John nodded. "We got maybe a day's lead on the bastard, but he don't know where ya are about so that's an advantage." he said.

"But he has friends in the underground, its only a matter of time before you finds you." Sanangi explained.

Ranma's expression turned dark and his eyes changed from blue to yellow. "That means he'll come here. I won't let him endanger the Tendos." he said in a dangerous tone.

Sanangi gestured around to corners of the house and said, "I noticed your wards, love. They won't be enough. Dragasoni's an ancient dark. He was once a guard in the court of Vlad the Impaler, and he was a vampire even then."

"Does this mean you'll be leaving us, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked worriedly and holding onto him tightly as though if she let go he might slip away from her forever.

Ranma shook his head. "No, he'll likely trace me here and if I'm not around ... I won't let anything happen to you or your family, Kasumi-chan. Not as long I live under this roof." he told her and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Always the playboy I see, love." Sanangi said with a smirk.

"Well, so what's gonna be the plan mates?" John asked.

"We have a short time before he finally finds Ranma here. We need to make the most of it and prepare for him." Sanangi told him.

Ranma let go of Kasumi and cracked his knuckles. "Ok, lets get started." And all the rest of that night Ranma, Kasumi, and his old friends made preparations for war.

**oOOOo**

Ok, so I'm a horny twisted bastard, but is that really a bad thing:-) Anyway, John's dialog in the story has intentional grammatical errors in it because he's speaking in Aussie slang. "Oh sugar" is often used in Queensland and you'll sometimes hear the great late Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin spout it off from time to time along with his more famous "Cricky!" That guy was nuts, but in an ingenious sort of way. I'll be fleshing out these characters more in later chapters. For now I've focused some on Ranma's relationship and past history with Sanangi as well as her character's history. The Tendo's, except for Kasumi, still don't know that Ranma is a vampire. That changes in chapter five, but I'll stop there because I don't want to give anything away just yet.


	5. Chapter 5

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

**oOOOo**

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

**oOOOo**

Dear Readers,

Thank you for sticking around so long until I was able to sort out some personal problems that kept me from updating these stories you love so much. I enjoy writing very much and I enjoy making people happy with what I write. I also had to fix my broken computer. In the next coming months I'll be starting my first professional novel. This doesn't mean I'll stop writing fan fiction. Doing fan fics is good practice for me. It may take me some time to get the story finalized but I've decided to go ahead and finally write it. Wish me luck and in the mean time please enjoy this long awaited update.

Sincerely,

TheZorch

**oOOOo**

"Does this mean you'll be leaving us, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked worriedly and holding onto him tightly as though if she let go he might slip away from her forever.

Ranma shook his head. "No, he'll likely trace me here and if I'm not around ... I won't let anything happen to you or your family, Kasumi-chan. Not as long I live under this roof." he told her and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Always the playboy I see, love." Sanangi said with a smirk.

"Well, so what's gonna be the plan mates?" John asked.

"We have a short time before he finally finds Ranma here. We need to make the most of it and prepare for him." Sanangi told him.

Ranma let go of Kasumi and cracked his knuckles. "Ok, lets get started." And all the rest of that night Ranma, Kasumi, and his old friends made preparations for war.

**oOOOo**

**Chapter 5**

A door opened to a darkened room. A big man dressed in an expensive looking business suit came in and immediately went to the bed in the far corner. He regarded the young girl laying there sprawled naked. The man reached towards her neck, he resisted the urge to explore impressive natural attributes. His fingers felt for a pulse on her neck, his arm grazed the top of one of those large attributes and he pulled his arm away. He'd have a chance to explore this girl further but at the moment she was intended for someone else. The boss of his Yakuza clan would have his head if he took advantage of a working girl while she was on the job.

Across the room he heard a sound and turned around slowly. He knew what was in this room and was smart enough not to draw his gun. Not that it would have done him any good anyway.

"She is not dead comrade," said someone in perfect Japanese from where he heard the sound in a thick Russian accent. "I could never deprive your organization of such an impressive asset." The source of the voice was a shadowy form in another corner. The shadow moved partially into the light revealing itself to be a man with a young woman sitting on his lap. The women's head hung limply to one side, a pair of fresh bite marks on her neck oozing blood were easily visible.

"This one, however, was delicious," said the man in the corner.

The man in the suit waved dismissively and said, "That one was a troublemaker anyway, you did us a favor actually."

Dragasoni climbed out of the chair and gently laid the dead girl into it. "I am pleased that this had helped you, comrade." he said. He walked past the man and stopped at the side of the bed. His hand reach out and gently caressed the young girl laying there.

"Magnificent," he said as his hand gentle fondled the girl. "I didn't know there were any pure bred Japanese girls who were D cups. Especially at the age of twelve."

The man in the suit looked surprised and asked, "How did you know she was pure Japanese?"

Dragasoni looked at this with a fang filled smirk and replied, "It was once said that women were like a fine wine. Therefore, I took a sip."

The man's eyebrow went up. He didn't remember seeing a bite mark on the girl but then he'd heard that vampires could hide them easily. Remembering why he came here in the first place he reached into his jacket and pulled out a manila folder.

"These were taken a few days ago," he told Dragasoni as he handed the folder to him.

The folder three photographs, two of them were of a young boy wearing black trousers and a red Chinese shirt and the last of a red headed girl wearing similar garb. One of the pictures of the boy had a girl in it. A young girl in a school uniform with long lustrous hair. The other pictures had the subject alone.

"They match the description of that person you're looking for," the man told him. "The picture of the red head you were looking for was taken in the Tokyo suburb of Juuban-ku. The others were taken in Nerima-ku. The guys who took them work for the boss's cousin who runs those territories."

Dragasoni eyed the pictures closely, especially the one with the young school girl in it, and pulled out a picture of his own. It was a photo of Ranma standing in the fighting stance facing off against a beautiful, dark skinned African woman. "Da, this is good, very good comrade," he said with a smile.

"Not long after these were taken the boss's cousin lost contact with one of his special businesses," the man explained. "When they arrived everybody was knocked out cold and couldn't remember a thing. Two working girls were missing, all paper records at the business were gone and none of the guys would even remember them. They're still missing."

Dragasoni laughed, "You won't find them, they are far from your reach comrade."

"There ain't nobody who's beyond the reach of the Hokobi clan," the man said proudly and puffed up his chest.

Dragasoni leveled a fierce gaze on the man and his show of pride suddenly deflated. "If you knew what this young boy was you'd be shitting your pants right now comrade." he said to him and held up the picture with Ranma on the street alone.

"He's one of you?" the man asked him suddenly looking nervous. The Yakuza may do work for vampires from time to time but they knew damn well to leave them alone.

"Somewhat, he's one of those Crimson Circle traitors," Dragasoni told him and the man suddenly showed fear in his eyes. The Crimson Circle was well known to some in the Yakuza. They knew enough about them to know that pissing them off was a very bad thing to do. Screwing with people's memories would be child's play for a vampire. The man realized that his boss's cousin's men got off easy. That Crimsoner could have slaughtered them all without breaking a sweat.

"Arrange for me an airline ticket to Tokyo for tomorrow morning," Dragasoni ordered and turned around towards the sleeping girl.

The man looked confused and said, "But, Dragasoni-san, its morning already today."

Without looking back at him, Dragasoni replied, "I wish to play with this one a little more before I go, comrade." The man backed away sensing that his presence in the room was no longer desired. He'd have people come in and get the dead girl out later. As the door closed he saw Dragasoni's robe fall to the floor and the vampire climbed onto the bed. The sound of creaking bed springs echoed down the hallway long before he reach the end of the hall.

**oOOOo**

The sun shown brightly upon Tendo-ke as Sanangi inspected the last of the protective wards. She had to admit that Ranma's work was nearly perfect. After he drew the wards on the walls and windows of the house she went around and added additional protection in for form a surrounding ring of symbols and runes. John Powder place powerful wards which would repel anything evil from the house. Well, anything supernaturally evil at is. The wards were strong, very strong, but up against a vampire like Dragasoni they might not be enough. Having them in place though was far better than not having any at all. If he was determined to get in they wouldn't stop him for long but would serve to deter him if he saw no profit in doing so. The idea was to keep him away from Tendo-ke, draw in away from the generally populated areas and take him on somewhere far more open.

The sight for the fight had already been picked. Ranma recommended the construction site for a new high rise building near the financial district. It wasn't far away and would give them the open room they needed to take him on. It would take all three of them to handle Dragasoni. He was an ancient vampire far older than Sanangi herself. A dark at his age was a terrible thing to behold but Dragasoni made it worse. The man was a lunatic, an animal. At first impression he might seem suave and debonair but once of blood lust was unleashed that persona disappeared and a ravenous beast emerged. The point was though, nobody who had ever gone up against Dragasoni ever survived to talk about it.

"This is going to have to do," Sanangi said as she finished the final ward. An arm snaked around to hold her from behind a softly grazed the underside of her ample breasts. She smiled when a pair of warm lips placed a kiss on her neck.

"If I didn't know any better, love, I'd say you were trying to tell me something." she said seductively as she reach back and caressed the arm of the young man holding her.

"Maybe I am," said Ranma's soft voice in her ear. Sanangi relaxed into his embrace feeling the contours of Ranma's well muscled chest press into his back. She smiled impishly the instant before she exploded into movement. The first thing she did was slide down out of Ranma's embrace. Her hand with a blade came up to block in Ranma's hand which had been coming around towards her throat. When metal collided with metal the duel began with ferocious earnest.

The bodies of the two combatants moving so fast their featured were blurred. Only their blurred colors could be soon allowing anyone who saw the fight to tell the two apart. The ringing of metal against metal founded in rapid waves across the neighborhood.

Tendo Akane went out onto the back porch and gawked at the two as they went at it. She felt really good today for some reason. The girl was practically glowing.

As she watched Ranma and Sanangi seemed to almost defy gravity as they delivered blow after blow which the other countered perfectly. She noticed John sitting against the wall watching them with an almost bored look on his face.

"Do they duel all out like that all the time?" she asked him.

John smiled and said, "All out? Hardly, Sheila, they're holding back quite a bit there." Akane looked at him like he'd suddenly grown a second set of arms.

She gestured towards the two and yelled, "You call that holding back, you gotta be kidding me!"

John shrugged his shoulders and replied, "The city block is still standing ain't it?" If Akane's jaw could have falling through the floor of the porch it would have at that moment. She turned back around to watch the two and fell down onto her haunches.

Before Ranma came she'd been considered the best fighter in Nerima, the best martial artist in the entire region. That all changed when he showed up and though he'd only been here for a very short time people were already starting to talk. The pounding he'd given Kuno the other day was seen by the entire school. He was the master of his branch of the Anything Goes school, and she was still just learning.

The two blurs continued to race around the yard, up onto the wall, and onto and over the roof of the house. A particularly loud clang of steel issued and two blades went flying. Akane panicked as they went straight towards her. Before she could get herself to dodge John appeared at her side and caught the blades between his fingers.

"Hey you blokes, watch out for the spectators!" he yelled at the two as they shifted into hand-to-hand fighting.

"Gomen," Ranma and Sanangi both replied without taking their attention away from each other.

Akane could only watch them wide eyed as the fight continued. The two still moved so fast they blurred. After what seemed like an eternity one of the blurs went flying and landed in the koi pond with a loud splash. In side the house, Kasumi let out a sigh and smiled as she went to the sink to fill the tea kettle.

Sanangi, coughing and sputtering, came to the surface of the pond and looked up at a smugly smirking Ranma in disbelief.

"You've gotten better," she said impressively.

"So have you," he told her and offered his hand to help her out.

As he pulled her out Sanangi tugged, hard. With a yelp Ranma went face first into the water and came up sputtering. John laughed and tried very hard not to get a nosebleed since both women's shirts now clung very tightly.

"That was dirty," Ranma said to her with a hurt expression.

"Yes, love, and that's why it was so much fun." Sanangi replied with a shit eating smile when she got out of the pond. Something similar had happened to this a long time ago, but it was Ranma who pulled Sanangi into the water. If he remembered right, that was the night he lost his virginity.

Ranma laughed and got out of the pond. She wrung out her shirt and went to the kitchen to get some hot water from Kasumi. A few minutes later a male Ranma emerged. Akane didn't notice right away, but Ranma's clothes were suddenly dry. John handed Sanangi back her blades with a rye smile and the African beauty just rolled her eyes at him.

**oOOOo**

Yuka sat quietly in Nerima-ku's largest park and watched the children play. She often dreamed of finding the right man someday and having a family. Often she pretended to be a happy mom sitting by the play area watching her precious child having fun. Girls had dreams and aspirations just like men did. Will I have a boy or a girl, she'd often ask herself. Have children often lead her to the thought of intimacy and that's where things got ... interesting in her thoughts. She often had to stop herself hoping nobody saw the bright red blush on her face. The idea of doing ... that ... with a guy was foreign to her but intriguingly intoxicating at the same time. Yuka heard other girls talk about their first times and wondered if hers was going to be just as good.

So deep was she in her thought that Yuka didn't hear Ranma walk up and sit down beside her on the bench. Actually, not even a bat could have heard the vampire/martial artist with a parabolic microphone. When he wanted to approach unheard and unseen you "will not" hear or see him. He could feel what she was thinking, could sense the warmth of the blood rushing to her cheeks as she blushed, could hear the tightening of the skin of her breasts. He could even smell, well, her willingness to procreate.

He'd almost forgotten their date. A part of him felt bad for leaving his friends behind to watch over Tendo-ke while he went out but Sanangi insisted that he go. His mind was also on a strange impression he got from Akane not long ago. It was back when he and Sanangi were sparring. Happened right when they fell into the pond. It was a fleetingly stray thought and quickly suppressed but he could have sworn he felt Akane become aroused at seeing them wet, and himself female. It intrigued him enough to warrant investigation later on. He realized that it might answer a lot of unanswered questions about the youngest Tendo sister.

"Hello," he said quietly into Yuka's ear.

If she could have jumped a thousand feet into the air she would have. When she saw it was him she instantly settled down, sat back down beside him and gave him a playful punch in the arm. Ranma didn't even notice it. Might as well have been a mosquito landing on his arm.

"You scared me, you!" she laughed.

Ranma laughed in return, "Sorry, you were looking distracted." Then, smiled when she put her hands to her face and blushed furiously. The thought occurred to Yuka that Ranma could be a mind reader. After all they had a girl in their class who could read the taro cards and her predictions were often accurate.

"You're late, you shouldn't keep a pretty girl awaiting you know." she said turning away from him and putting on an obviously fake angry expression.

She blushed again even more furiously when she felt his lips gently brush against her ear. "I'm sorry, something important came up at home. Will you forgive me, Yuka-chan?" he said softly.

"Buy me ice cream," she replied with a smile a mile wide.

**oOOOo**

Soun looked across the dinning room table nervously. His friend had been noticeably absent ever since Ranma's friends arrived. Why was he so afraid of them or reluctant to be around them. Did they have some kind of history together he didn't know about. They seemed like nice people. The ebony toned African woman was remarkably beautiful and very polite. The Aussie reminded Soun of a young Genma in some ways, but he had a feeling that it was in his best interests and survival to keep that opinion to himself. The two got along with his daughters rather well. Akane talked martial arts with Sanangi, she had been impressed with the level of skill she demonstrated when sparring with Ranma that morning. Nabiki and Kasumi chatted a bit with John. His strong accent and speech mannerisms reminded him of the late Steve Irwin.

"So how did an Aussie end up in China?" Nabiki asked the Paul Hogan clone sitting across from her at the table.

Johnathan smiled and replied, "Sanangi and me got friends over there in China. Was visit'n them when we ran into Ranma and his pop." The truth was they knew each other for more than twenty years thanks to the time dilation effect inside the order's monastery. But he couldn't tell her that.

"How did you meet Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked.

"Sanangi and him's got the same fighting sensei," he explained. "She challenged Ranma to a sparring match and they've been good buds ever since." He couldn't tell her that Lee-sensei assigned her to teach Ranma and that she was the one who finally beat all those stupid notions about women out of him that his father had taught him. Sensing her thoughts he thought it would be best to keep secret the fact that she and Ranma had been intimate on more than one occasion.

Nabiki just shook her head. "Martial artists," she sighed.

Soun decided to see what was keeping his friend. He felt like he could trust these two gaijin, he wasn't sure why but it was a very strong feeling. He first checked the guest room upstairs where Genma and his son stayed. It was right across from Kasumi's bedroom. As he opened the door he saw his old friend sitting on the floor going through items in his pack.

"Saotome, you aren't leaving are you?" Soun asked him after quickly moving into the room.

Genma looked startled for second but recovered quickly. He wanted to tell Soun everything about Ranma but the boy had put a damn mental command in his head that no amount of meditation could get rid of that prevented him from saying the truth. Ranma had felt it was ironic having to do that to him to keep his secret. Here he was a man who wouldn't tell the truth to save his soul and now he has a mental block preventing from telling the truth. The idea made Ranma laugh for hours.

"There are things I've got to tell you Tendo but I can't," the big man replied.

"Saotome, we've been friends for years. We endured the torture of your mast ..." Genma whipped around and clamped a hand over Soun's mouth.

"Don't you remember, talking behind his back brings the demon back!?" he exclaimed.

Soun's shoulders drooped and he apologized, "Gomen, but why can't you tell me?"

Genma sighed, "I can't tell you that either, and its really starting to piss me off. What I am able to tell you Tendo is for you to watch Ranma and those two downstairs."

Soun smiled at his friend and said, "Well, of course I'll watch over your son while you're away."

Genma suppressed the urge to body slam his old friend. "No, I mean watch them. As I said there are things I can't talk about right now and until I can I'm really worried for you and your daughters."

Soun looked at him in surprise. Was Genma actually implying that Ranma wasn't to be trusted, his own son and soon to be husband to one of his daughters. It couldn't be, Ranma seemed like such a nice and well adjusted young man. Kasumi and Nabiki seemed to get along with him rather well. Akane was another thing but then again she was having issues with boys at the moment. That worried Soun a little bit but he forced it back to the back of his mind again to concentrate on this problem.

"You aren't making sense, Saotome. Are you saying that Ranma-kun is dangerous?" Soun asked him. The crying man wasn't known for his attentiveness so he easily missed the look of frustration on Genma's face as the man struggled against the mental block.

"Just promise me to protect your daughters, Tendo." was all Genma could say.

Soun nodded still unable to really grasp what his friend was alluding do. He could never believe that the future owner of the dojo was a danger to his family. It just had to be something else, but what? He didn't get a chance to ask anything more when Genma grabbed up his pack and leapt for the open window. No soon did Soun reach the window was the big man already out of sight. He might have been overweight but that didn't seem to hinder his martial arts any. Alone in the guest room, Soun began to ponder what Genma had said. When he went back down to the dinning room that feeling that he should trust the two gaijin came back. He smiled, Genma's warnings forgotten and went back to his newspaper.

"Oh no! I forgot I was supposed to go to Sayuri's today and help her with her math homework." Akane jumped up and ran for the stairs. She returned a few minutes later with her school bag and raced for the front door.

"It was nice meeting you," she said to Sanangi as she vanished.

"That's one strange Sheila," John sent to Sanangi's mind so as the others wouldn't hear.

He could feel the African princess laughing in her thoughts. "If I didn't know any better I'd almost say she was trying to flirt with me." she sent back.

"Huh?" the Aussie was so startled he nearly said it out loud.

Sanangi looked at Kasumi and Nabiki. "Those two don't know it, but I suspect their little sister is a closet lesbian." she sent with a bemused thought.

"Cricky," he thought back.

**oOOOo**

The roof tops of Nerima made it easy for someone who was able to jump very high to travel around town almost unnoticed. With so many martial artists living in the same town nobody gave a roof jumper a second glance. Thus, when a newcomer appeared in the skies above Nerima nobody noticed. Dragasoni rode first class on a private jet to Tokyo Airport. From there it was easy to make his way to Nerima quickly. He didn't even have to pay train fare. He just walked on in and nobody noticed him at all. Well, nobody who was either mortal or wasn't sensitive to the supernatural. He rarely ran into those kinds of people, and when he did they tended to not live very long.

Finding Ranma in this forest of roof tops and old television antenna was at first going to prove itself to be a real challenge to the ancient vampire. That was until he picked up the unmistakably irresistible scent of a virgin girl. He saw her, she was a young one of maybe sixteen years of age running down the street with a school bag in her hand. Something about this girl stirred a memory and he withdrew the photograph. It was her, the target's woman! The ancient Russian vampire grinned showing his fangs and raced after her. There wasn't anybody around when he got to the street level, scooped her up, and they were both gone so quickly anyone who might have seen them would have only seen a blur.

Akane didn't know what was going on. Her mind was suddenly very fuzzy and she felt like she was flying but how could that be? She struggled to clear the fog out of her head, it took some effort and she quickly lost track of the time that went by. When she was finally able to see and hear things clearly she immediately wished that she couldn't.

Dragasoni was surprised at how strong this mortal girl's mind was. She was actually forcing her way past his control. It turned him on, he enjoyed it when girls fought back, and when her mind came completely back to surface he decided to show her what she up against. With one hand he completely ripped away the front of her dress, bra and all. She stood there in shock, totally naked and looking at him with an expression of horror on her face. He'd brought the girl to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town he was using as a base of operations. Special wards placed on the outside would prevent anyone from investigating any sounds from inside. So she could scream all she wanted, he wanted her to scream, and nobody would come to save her.

Akane tried to scream but the air was knock out of her as she was slammed against the wall. She flew through the air again and landed on an old, moldy mattress. The big man who attacked her was on top of her in an instant. She cried and beat her fists against him to no avail. She was spared the pain of loosing her hymen because of her exercises, but it still hurt being taken by this stranger none the less. How had some come to be here? She was going to Sayuri's place, where was here, how did she get here? Her screams of pain and humiliation echoed throughout the old building, but the wards outside kept anyone nearby from noticing them.

On the other side of town in a small ice cream parlor a young martial artist's ultra keen vampiric hearing detected the faint sound of a scream. A scream that sounded familiar. He focused on the sound then immediately realized it was Akane.

"What's wrong?" Yuka asked him noticing his distracted expression. She was still enjoying the huge sundae he'd gotten her. It was expensive but he insisted on buying it for her. She felt so lucky to have found a rich guy.

He turned to her suddenly and Yuka found herself irresistibly drawn to his bright blue eyes. "We had a great time," he told her and she mechanically nodded. She sat there looking off into space for a long time after he darted out of the shop and eventually shook out of it.

"Wow, I hope we have a date like that again." she smiled and went back to her ice cream thinking they'd just had the best date she could ever remember.

**oOOOo**

Coming soon in Chapter 6:

The dreaded encounter gets closer as Dragasoni arrives in Nerima. Thinking that Akane is Ranma's girl he kidnaps.. Will Ranma arrive in time to save both her humanity? What will Nabiki do when she learns Ranma's secret? Everything in Tendo-ke is going in change in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

_Legal Disclaimer: All the Anime/Manga and non-Anime/Manga characters appearing in this work of fan fiction are owned by their respective copyright and trademark holders. All Rights Reserved._

_Written for fan appreciation only without profit._

_Protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License_

**oOOOo**

Michael "TheZorch" Haney's

"**Beneath A Crimson Sky"**

**oOOOo**

On the other side of town in a small ice cream parlor a young martial artist's ultra keen vampiric hearing detected the faint sound of a scream. A scream that sounded familiar. He focused on the sound then immediately realized it was Akane.

"What's wrong?" Yuka asked him noticing his distracted expression. She was still enjoying the huge sundae he'd gotten her. It was expensive but he insisted on buying it for her. She felt so lucky to have found a rich guy.

He turned to her suddenly and Yuka found herself irresistibly drawn to his bright blue eyes. "We had a great time," he told her and she mechanically nodded. She sat there looking off into space for a long time after he darted out of the shop and eventually shook out of it.

"Wow, I hope we have a date like that again." she smiled and went back to her ice cream thinking they'd just had the best date she could ever remember.

**oOOOo**

**Chapter 6**

Ranma stood on a rooftop in the middle of town and listened. He just knew that sound he head was Akane. However, he realized that he didn't "hear" the scream so much as feel it. It hadn't been a sound but a psychic impression. Most humans were psychic to some lesser or greater degree. It was entirely possible that Akane, being a martial artist, and possessing some minor psychic potential broadcast her thoughts outward. Such events normally only happened during times of great distress. Thus, the pigtailed boy was searching for her high and low.

He abandoned the rooftop and made for the outskirts of town. In the distance he saw an old warehouse and a residential district which rested against the greenery of the forest at the base of the mountains which were in the distance. Ranma felt the scream again, a scream filled with pain, anguish, and a powerful emotion of humiliation. He leapt up to the top of a nearby cell tower and let his vampiric senses take over. He heard not a thing that sounded like Akane, but his other senses felt something else. There was magic nearby.

Stretching out with his senses further Ranma realized that the old warehouse was surrounding by a magical barrier of some sort. That certainly was not normal. With a great leap he left the tower and made his way to the warehouse. His vampiric sight let him see the wards scrawled on the walls in mana energy. He recognized the spell, a basic sound dampening seal. Somebody didn't want people hearing what was going on inside of this building.

Ranma's training told him to not enter the building without backup, especially if a powerful Dark might be in there. It would take too much time to go back to Tendo-ke for Sanangi and John, so he decided to risk going alone. First, though, he pulled a small paper doll out of one sleeve and poured some mana into it. Forming the spell in his mind he released it and tossed the doll into the air. It went up with a popping sound and a puff of smoke taking on the form of a blackbird. It circled the pigtailed boy twice then raced off in the direction of Tendo-ke.

The interior of the building was quiet, too quiet. That unnerved Ranma somewhat. He'd never tested his skills against a vampire like Dragasoni before. If it had only been a matter of skill verses strength then Ranma knew he could win, but that equation flew right out of the window when you added Vampirism. The Russian was an ancient vampire, few really knew how old he truly was. Sanangi had some idea but she didn't like to talk about it too much. She and Dragasoni has dealings in the past, none of them pleasant ones.

The storage rooms of the warehouse was all bare, whatever had been stored here had been moved out a long time ago. The building had an extensive office wing so Ranma started searching there. Finally he came to one large room and stopped dead in his tracks. It showed signs of having been used recently. As he slowly entered his senses picked up the telltale beating of a living human heart. Looking around in the gloom he found the source. She lay on a dirty old mattress in a corner, naked and curled up in a fetal position. Ranma's nose detected the unmistakably musky scent associated with sex coming from her. Ranma immediately began to fear the worst and slowly approached the still figure. It was a girl from the shape of the body's contours and she was young. He turned her over and sighed a deep, anguished sigh. It was Tendo Akane.

Ranma didn't have to examine the girl to know she'd been raped, and rather brutally. Her body sported several large severe bruises which were going to need looking after. Dragasoni's fang marks in her neck were still showing and were still faintly oozing blood. This alarmed Ranma, it meant this didn't happen all that long ago. He stretched out with his senses and nearly didn't detect the attack that came from behind. Rolling backwards he managed to avoid a silver blade which had been thrown at his head.

The pigtailed martial artist sprang to his feet and felt around with his senses for the Russian. He felt "nothing", either meaning the vampire had run off or he was really good at hiding his presence. Ranma guessed it was the later, and kept up his guard. From Sanangi and John's description of his vampire he didn't seem like the type to run away from a fight in which he had the advantage. Dragasoni in this case had a huge advantage over Ranma.

The next attack came from the side which surprised the martial artist since there was nothing but a barren wall there. Plaster and bricks erupted outward as the big Russian plowed through it and body tackled Ranma. The pigtailed martial artist relied on his training to minimize the damage caused by the fall and to avoid the crushing blow from Dragasoni's elbow. The Russian looked at him with feral eyes filled with blood lust and licked his lips. The sight made Ranma's skin crawl. Sanangi was right, this guy was an Animal!

Ranma sprung to his feet about as fast as Dragasoni, despite his size, and fell instantly into a defensive fighting stance. He had no idea how long he could hold out against this superior vampire but there was no other choice. He had to wait and buy time for his messenger to reach his friends at Tendo-ke. There was Akane to worry about also. The best he could do was keep the Russian occupied until the cavalry arrived ... he hoped.

What amazed Ranma the most was how fast the big vampire was able to move. The Russian was a massive man, not in the same way his father was massive, but massive in sheer bulk. Dragasoni appeared to be almost all muscle. A huge meaty fist went for his head, a haymaker blow intended to take off his head. It came in so fast Ranma was barely able to dodge it in tine and could actually feel the air from his passing. He wasn't able to read the impending attack in the Russian's body either, he wasn't telegraphing his moves, and this last revelation really worried Ranma.

Dragasoni on the other hand was having the time of his life. He was coming off of the high of having his way with that little girl and now his quarry practically delivered himself for execution. He was a bit impressed with Ranma's prowess, but it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before or hadn't learned before. He had centuries to master many different martial arts and fighting styles from different countries. There was nothing in the contract that said Ranma's destruction had to be immediate, so Dragasoni decided to play with him for a while. He smiled when the pigtailed boy failed to dodge one his hand swipes and went flying to a nearby wall. Oh, yes, this was going to be a lot of fun.

**oOOOo**

Sanangi sat alone on the roof of Tendo-ke just enjoying the view of the stars. Despite the street lights, up here on the roof of the house you could still make out a few stars in the night sky. It was relaxing to just look up at them. Her vampiric hearing picked up the Tendo patriarch crying downstairs about his youngest daughter having not returned home yet. This didn't concern her at first, after all as far as she was able to determine they hadn't been found yet. She knew it was a matter of time though. No, the girl was probably staying at a friend's house doing whatever it was teenage girls in this day and age usually do. John was on the back porch sitting alone carving a koala bear out of a small piece of wood.

The flapping of wings and the cry of a blackbird caught her attention. The bird circled her twice then landed on the roof next to her. It walked towards her, its head bobbing sd it did, then instantly it morphed from the shape of a bird into a piece of paper. Sanangi grabbed it before it was blown away on the night breeze and looked at what was written on it. Her vampiric vision could see the kanji written there as clear as day. She caught her breath and leapt down from the roof.

"John, Ranma needs us!" she shouted to him and sprang off over the wall surrounding Tendo-ke. John didn't have time to ask hearing the urgency in Sanangi's voice. He soon caught up to her as they flew towards the outskirts of town.

**oOOOo**

The pigtailed martial artist was starting to think coming in here without his friends to help had been a really bad idea. He had speed and skill, but so did Dragasoni. Most of all the Russian had centuries of fighting experience. To put it bluntly, Ranma was being outclassed. He now sported several vicious looking bruises to his face and arms and had a shallow cut on his right shoulder which hurt like a sonuvabitch because it was caused by a silver blade. Silver weapons hurt vampires.

He was forced to call upon his reserves of mana to bolster himself, but those reserves were finite, and he was starting to run low. Dragasoni had recently feed and was going full steam. Ranma knew he wouldn't hold out much longer, he only hoped his friends would get here soon.

Dragasoni smirked, he knew the boy was weakening. He could see it in his face, read it in his body language, and even sense it. The time to end this game was coming quickly. He made a grab for Ranma, a move the boy tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough. With a powerful heave he through Ranma across the room and into the only wall which was still intact in the office area. It was the wet wall, and when the boy hit the pipes burst and water that had been trapped inside for years came pouring out. The Russian slowly strolled up intending to deal the finishing blow to end this and earn his pay but then he noticed something about his quarry had suddenly changed.

Laying amid the ruined chucks of wall plaster, bricks and busted pipes wasn't a young, dark haired boy, but a busty, young red headed girl.

"Jusenkyo," the Russian said in an amused tone. This was certainly proving to be rather interesting. His employers never said anything about this to him, which was a surprise, but it would have been a nice piece of information if they had included it. This new fact made the Russian alter his strategy somewhat. His employers wanted him to destroy Ranma, they didn't tell him how they wanted it done and how long it should take. Yes, he'd destroy Saotome, he would destroy him, but before he dealt the final blow ... he break him.

"Don't ... touch ... me," Ranma said weakly as Dragasoni picked her up in his powerful arms.

He grabbed the back of her head by the hair and draw her head back. "I was going to destroy quickly, but now I change my mind." the Russian said.

"Da, before I send you to oblivion I am going to break you," and with that said he plunged his fangs into Ranma's neck and drank lustily. The redhead tried to fight but she was growing weaker by the second. The Russian didn't drink long, just enough to weaken her more. Unable to fight back, barely able to move, Ranma felt herself being carried into another room where she was bent over an old office table.

Ranma panicked and a small amount of strength she didn't know she had came back to her as she felt her pants and boxers being pulled down, but the Russian's hands where like iron and she was still too weak to do anything.

"I'll ... fucking ... kill ... you," she said still trying to struggle, desperation and terror was evident in her blue eyes now. That fear hit it peak when she felt something press against her lower regions, then it began to invade her.

"AAAAHHHH!" she yelped, her body pushed against the desk. Panic, fear, revulsion, humiliation all came to the surface at once and Ranma tried one final time to escape but to no avail. She was helpless in the ancient vampire's grasp as he took her behind. Finally, emotional and physical exhaustion took their toll and all she could do was quietly cry and tried to drown out the sound of the Russian's lusty grunts and groans.

**oOOOo**

Flying towards the outskirts of town took them twenty minutes. They weren't at top speed, Sanangi didn't want to accidentally overshoot the place they were looking for. Grasping the magic message in her hand she followed its trail until it lead them both to an old abandoned warehouse. The two vampires immediately detected the sound dampening wards and ventured inside. It was as quiet as a tomb. Both stretched out with their senses and felt for any sign of activity. John detected the faint beating of a human heart and he flew in that direction with Sanangi following. They found the office section of the building in near ruins.

"Cricky, our boy Ranma musta given em one hell of a thrashing," John said quietly.

Sanangi replied quietly, "I fear it might be the other way about, love."

They found Akane first, she was still laying on the mattress and was once again in a fetal position. Sanangi examined her while John guarded them both. She sighed sadly when she found evidence that the girl had been violated. The girl had been drained of a lot of blood, not enough to kill her, but enough to keep her incapacitated until her body could produce more. There was something else, a certain faint, telltale smell ...

"That bastards," she hissed, recalling that smell.

"What is it, Sheila?" John asked quietly.

She turned mournful eyes up at John and replied, "She's turning, he forced her to drink some of his blood. She'll be one of us soon."

"Oh sugar," John cursed, anger now showing on his face.

"We must find Ranma and take Akane to safety, then we can deal with the Russian." Sanangi said in a whisper and put a hand on the Aussie's shoulder. With seemingly no effort at all she lifted Akane into her arms and the two vampires resumed their search of the offices. A short time later they came to another room, light from a street lamp came pouring in through a broken window illuminating the scene before them. Giving a gasp of fear and regret, Sanangi quickly handed Akane over to John and she raced over to the crumpled form of Ranma-chan on the floor.

"Oh, Ranma love ... no," she whispered, tears in her eyes. The redhead lay there beaten and battered on floor, her black pants and boxer shorts pulled down around her ankles. A slick wetness coming from between the girl's legs gave the African Princess the first indications of what had happened to her dear friend.

"No ... please no ... don't be gone," Sanangi sobbed quietly as she brushed the young girls crimson locks with her ebony hand. She felt a brief but weak impulse come from the girl. Desperately, she grabbed Ranma up into her arms, pulled down one side of her collar and positioned Ranma's head there at her exposed neck.

"Drink, please ... drink," Sanangi pleaded. She felt the girl in her arms barely move, her head moved just enough to get in the right position, then felt Ranma's fangs lightly prick her skin, then slowly piece deeper. She let Ranma drink for five minutes, it wasn't enough to diminish the strength of the African Princess, but it was enough to get Ranma back on her feet. The redhead had a sad, defeated look in her eyes. When she looked at Akane, Sanangi could see regret and self-loathing in her expression.

Sanangi told her, "There was nothing you could have done, love. He was too powerful for you."

"I ... failed to ... keep ... my promise to ... Kasumi-chan," Ranma replied weakly.

John said, "Be thankful ya still got ya blooming head."

"John," Sanangi berated him. "Ranma love, you did your best which is more than enough. There aren't many young vampires who can stand up to a vampire like that monster and survive for long." She hoped these encouraging words would touch Ranma's ego, assuming Dragasoni hadn't completely crushed it.

Ranma leaned against her and cried silently. She then said, "He beat ... me ... then he ... raped me." The redhead's shoulders shook as sobbing overcame her. Sanangi could do nothing but hold her and try to comfort her. John was starting to look worried.

"Sheila, I'm think we might wanna be getting while the getting good," he warned. The seriousness of their vulnerable position came to Sanangi and she nodded in agreement. They sensed no sign of the Russian anywhere around as they left the warehouse and flew back to Tendo-ke. Little did they know the real reason for why they got away so easily.

**oOOOo**

Dragasoni let out a loud groan as his body shivered from his second orgasmic release. The redhead had no hymen either, like the other young girl, but that didn't really matter. With his lusts quenched for now he pulled up his pants and let the boy turned girl fall to the floor. He could tell he was her first man, and he enjoyed ever moment of it because he knew every moment of it was torture from his quarry. If there was one thing he enjoyed more it was making people suffer.

However, there were some things to taking into account. Sanangi and John Powder were in town, and it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Ranma might have sent them a message letting them know where he was. He wasn't ready to confront those two just yet. They weren't like the boy, they wouldn't be so easily beaten. Especially Sanangi, because she was an ancient vampire also, and highly skilled. John wasn't as old, he was skilled, and with Sanangi to back him up they'd both prove to be headache.

There was no guarantee that Ranma hadn't sent them a message, so Dragasoni decided caution was best and putting an end to this game now was the best choice. It really was too bad, he wanted to pay with his quarry's female body some more but alas it was not to be. From his jacket he withdrew a long silver blade and held it over Ranma's body. He calculated the position of the girl's heart and was about to plunge the blade downwards. For a vampire it would have been a lethal blow.

"Do not slay," came the harsh whispered words from the shadows. The voice was like that was many speaking at once in an emotionless, dreadful chorus.

Nothing ever frightened the big Russian, but the sound of that voice sent a shiver down his spin. This was only because he knew "what" that something was which spoke. The real question, though, in his mind was why the hell they were here. What did they want with the boy?

"I was contracted to destroy this one, why?" he demanded, anger overriding his better judgment. He was taking a chance, he knew exactly what "they" could do to him.

"Do not slay, a purpose we have for this one," the voice in the shadows said again in that same harsh whisper.

Grunting, the Russian stood up and put away the blade. "What am I supposed to tell my employers, I have a reputation to uphold?" he asked the shadows. Through one of the broken walls he could see a pair of sickly yellow eyes peering back at him. The sight made him shiver, he'd only once seem "them" in person and he would rather not relive that experience again.

"Already dealt with, pay is in account," the thing in the shadows replied.

He turned to leave and headed for the room where Akane lay on the mattress. "Fine," he grunted angrily, but at least he'd leave with a trophy. He'd made her drink his blood, soon she'd be like him and he be able to keep her for a good long while as a plaything until he tired of her.

"Leave her," the voice whispered from another hole in the wall as Dragasoni kneelt to pick up the girl.

Furious now, he turned towards the shadows and the yellow eyes staring unblinking at him and raged, "She's mine! I'm turning her!"

"Disobey us not," the voice warned, and suddenly the Russian collapse to the floor writhing in agony. The yellow eyes looking on in the darkness showed no emotion at all.

"Forgotten have you the pact you made," the voice reminded him. "Forgotten have you that you belong to us."

Still writhing in agony, the Russian gasped out, "Alright, alright, I'll obey! I'll obey!" The pain stopped and slowly Dragasoni climbed to his feet and composed himself. The yellow eyes continued to look at him dispassionately. Then a second set of eyes appeared next them.

"Holy shit, two of them are here," he whispered under his breath. He'd never known an instance where more than one of them was needed to be anywhere. There must be something about that boy that was incredibly important to them. Finding out what that was wasn't going to easy because "they" often weren't very forthcoming and rarely shared their secrets. It was because they shared some of their secrets with him in the past that he was in this situation. In return for learning ancient, forgotten, and forbidden spells he was pretty much their property but was allowed to do as he pleased until they called for him. They called for him only twice since their relationship began centuries before, it was at that time that he saw what they really looked like. The memory still gave him nightmares.

"Leave this place, hide until called for," the voice commanded. Giving the girl on the mattress a forlorn look he left the building and darted off into the night only minutes before Sanangi and John arrived. As the pair searched the building and found their friends they were completely unaware that they were being watched by inhuman, emotionless eyes from the shadows.

**oOOOo**

Sanangi and John arrived at Tendo-ke and there was a sudden panic as Nabiki and Soun both took in Ranma and Akane's conditions. The middle Tendo sister, her face pale with worry followed Sanangi up to Akane's room where they tucked the naked girl into bed. Downstairs Kasumi had grabbed a wet washcloth and was wiping away the dirt from Ranma's face. Many of the bruises on her face caused by Dragasoni had faded because of the small amount of blood she got from Sanangi. Soun's waterworks were going full stream and eventually the Aussie had to cast a sleep spell on the man to get him to shut up. Sanangi came back downstairs and immediately went over to Ranma. Nabiki followed her and stood in the middle of room.

"What the hell happened to my sister?!" she demanded, taking in Ranma-chan's beaten and battered appearance she was almost too afraid to ask. The fact that her sister was completely naked didn't look good and the very thought of what might have happened was too horrible for Nabiki to contemplate.

"I asked you a question?!" Nabiki reached and yanked on Sanangi's shoulder. She snapped her hand back as the ebony skinned princess' eyes suddenly turned bright crimson and from her throat came a feral, inhuman growl.

"Nabiki, please calm down," Kasumi, who was also pale with worry told her.

"How ... long," Ranma said, they all heard her and looked at her." How long ... for Akane?"

"What does he mean by that?" Nabiki asked, a feeling a dread creeping up her spine now. She felt Kasumi grip her shoulders reassuringly. The eldest of the Tendo sisters wasn't too certain what had happened either but from the looks of Ranma's injuries it wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

Sanangi sighed, "Its different with everybody, love. It could be tonight, it could be tomorrow."

Ranma tried to stand up and found several hands pushing her back down. Even Nabiki was pushing her back down. Whatever had happened to her sister, Ranma had been there, was probably trying to stop it and her current condition was the result. It was the only explanation she could reason from all of this.

"You are still too weak," Sanangi told Ranma.

"My ... responsibility," Ranma said. "Promised Kasumi, would protect ... her ... family." Kasumi's heart skipped a beat hearing that and the resolute determination in Ranma's weak voice. She knelled down next to the smaller girl and held her close. She felt Ranma's shoulders shake as the girl cried into her chest.

"Someone, please just tell me what is going on," Nabiki said in a less hysterical, and more under control tone. Sanangi turned towards her with sad eyes.

"You're sister was hurt by someone very dangerous," she explained. "Ranma tried to protect her, but that someone was far too powerful for him. They're both lucky to be back home in one piece."

"Who is that someone?" Nabiki asked.

"Sheila, she'd gotta be told," John said to Sanangi. "Her little sister is turning and she's going to find out soon or later so she might as well find out now."

Sanangi sighed and nodded, she knew he was right. Before she could speak Kasumi said, "Let me talk to her." Gently handing Ranma off to Sanangi, the eldest Tendo sister stood and took Nabiki out into the hallway.

"What is this all about?" Nabiki asked her sister.

With sad eyes Kasumi replied, "It partly has to do with mother and the work she used to do. Work which I've taken over in her place as her chosen successor."

"What work?" Nabiki demanded.

Kasumi looked back into the room at Ranma who lay on the floor, her head on Sanangi's lap. The redhead was breathing hard and looked absolutely terrible. It hurt to see her that way, and Kasumi know there was only one way in which Ranma was going to be able recover. She could explain everything to Nabiki until she was blue in the face but she wasn't certain her younger sister would believe a word of it unless she was it for herself.

"Ranma and his two friends are very special," Kasumi explained. "They belong to a secret order which has sworn an oath to protect people and mother worked from that secret order using our home as a safe house for them in time of need."

Nabiki looked at incredulously, "You've got to kidding."

"I'm not," Kasumi replied. "they aren't like normal people, Nabiki. They're different from you and me. I know it hard for you to believe me but there is only one way for you to understand, and that is for me to show you."

Kasumi went back into dinning room and with Sanangi's help got Ranma into a seated position. The ebony skinned princess knew what the girl wanted to do. There were protocols that needed to be observed in doing this.

"I, Tendo Kasumi, who swears by the crimson bond that links us both, offers to give to this one who has fought against the darkness." she said. It had been years since her mother taught her the old protocols, but she remembered them all word for word.

"I who serves the order, the circle of life, and the crimson that flows and links us both must know if you Tendo Kasumi gives this willingly to he whom fights the darkness of her own free will without coercion?" Sanangi said reciting the next part of the formal protocol. Nabiki watched with fascination. She'd seen complex ceremonies before and she knew special protocols when she saw them. What exactly was going on here?

Kasumi replied, "I give this of my own free will, let that which flows from me give strength to this one in his time of greatest need."

"John," Sanangi whispered. The Aussie nodded.

"I, whom also serves the circle of life, and the crimson that flows and links us both do bare witness that Tendo Kasumi gives of her own free will to this one whom in greatest need."

Sanangi smiled at Kasumi, "Its been several hundred years since the formal ceremony of the giving of blood was conducted. I'm impressed you knew all of the verses."

"My mother taught them all to me," Kasumi replied.

"Giving of blood?" Nabiki asked curiously, wondering if Ranma needed a transfusion. If that was so they could contact Dr. Tofu for that. She was about to suggest it when Kasumi unbuttoned the front of her dress and pulled one side down exposing her neck. Ranma looked up at her weakly, a pleading look in her eyes, but Kasumi looked back at her with adoration and concern.

"Its alright," she told the redhead. "I trust you Ranma-chan." She drew the girl close, putting her head in position where it would be close to her neck and waited. Nabiki wasn't sure what was happened here, then an awful realization suddenly began to dawn on her. She thought it was just her imagination at first but she watched as Ranma weakly raised her head to look into Kasumi's eyes. The eldest of the Tendo sisters gave her a tender kiss on the forehead then leaned her head to the side. Nabiki watched in horrified fascination as Ranma opened her mouth revealing two long, sharp fangs. Slowly, the redhead covered Kasumi neck with her lips, then there was the faint sound like ripping cloth. Kasumi gasped and closed her eyes, John came around behind her and held her up steady. There was a faint slurping sound as Ranma began to drink.

"We are forbidden to take blood from innocents without permission," Sanangi explained to a wide eyed, and heavily breathing Nabiki. "It is the oath we took to be a part of the Order of the Crimson Circle, an oath to protect humanity rather than become its bane."

"Vampires," Nabiki breathed, almost disbelieving her own words, but the truth of it was right there in front of her.

"Yes, all three of us are," Sanangi admitted to her. Nabiki looked from her to Ranma and then to John whot smiled at her.

"The one who did this to Ranma hurt your sister, love," Sanangi explained. "Ranma tried to fight him, despite warnings from me that he was too powerful for him to take on alone. When we arrived the place we found them in looked like a war zone. Ranma love put up a good fight but it wasn't enough."

"We duh no where the bloke is, Sheila," John added. "He was gone when we found Ranma and you're little sis. Ranma and the bloke had one good tussle thought from the looks of the place."

Ranma sat up, she was immediately looking better but still looked battered. Kasumi was pale and looked frail. She sagged a bit and she caught her in her arms and gently stroked her hair. Holding her close to her Ranma gentle spoke words which to Nabiki's ears almost sounded like a prayer. A golden glow surrounded her and Kasumi and her older sister let out a faint gasp and almost immediately looked better. When the glow subsided Kasumi leaned forward and gave Ranma a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"W ... w ... w ... what was that?" she asked, fear rooted her to the spot where she was when this all started. Fear and a morbid fascination.

"As vampires in Order of the Crimson Circle we are granted divine healing powers by Kami-sama in return for our continued pledge to use our powers to fight evil." Ranma told her.

"Don't be afraid, Nabiki," Kasumi reassured her. "They're good people. Mother worked for the order for many years before her death and during that time she groomed me to be her successor. I just was not expecting to have to take up the role as quickly as I did." John came out of the kitchen and pour a cup of hot water on Ranma changing him back into his male form.

Nabiki asked, "Was her death related to this work?" She had to know. Nabiki wasn't so closed minded that she couldn't believe in good vampires. Her fear was slowly beginning to fade away as logic and reasoning reasserted themselves in her mind. The initial shock was beginning to fade. Of the entire household, save for Kasumi, she was best equipped to deal with shocking information like this.

Kasumi shook her head, "No, mother's death was an accident."

"Had you're mother's death been the act of one of our enemies, love, we would have known about it and would have exacted terrible retribution upon the ones responsible." Sanangi explained. "The deaths of every Watcher is investigated thoroughly."

"I have to goto Akane," Ranma said and stood up. He was still wobbly on his feet but was able to stand.

"Not in that condition you aren't, love." Sanangi told him and tried to make him sit back down. "Not until you feed again and regain the rest of your strength."

"You feed totally thought willing contributions," Nabiki inquired. Something deep within her told her she should be freaking out right about now, but there was also something strangely exhilarating in all of this. It was a feeling like she was a part of something bigger than her, something powerful.

Sanangi shook her head, "We can't take blood from innocents without permission, but when it comes to the scum of the earth they are open season."

"Wait, what is happening to Akane?" Nabiki asked remembering their comments from earlier.

"Love, the one who attacked your sister was what we call a Dark," Sanangi explained to her. "A Dark is an evil vampire who rejects the laws of the Crimson Circle, and we are pledged to destroy them. One of the worst crimes a Dark can commit is forcing someone to become a vampire against their will."

"That's how I became one," Ranma said sadly.

"Oh no," Nabiki gasped and run for the stairs.

"Nabiki!" Kasumi called after her.

"Hurry, if Akane awakens with Nabiki up their alone it would bad," Ranma said urgently and they all ran for the stairs and went straight to Akane's room. They found Nabiki sitting next to Akane's bed. The youngest Tendo sister looked very different, she was pale, thin and almost skeletal, and her breath came in shallow gasps.

"Cricky, she's in stage three already," John commented.

"It will not be long," said Sanangi.

"I gave an oath to protect this family, I failed to protect Akane, so I'll be her guardian." Said Ranma.

Sanangi replied, "You're still too weak for that. Unless ..." She turned towards Nabiki who's eyes suddenly went wide. Kasumi turned her eyes towards Nabiki pleadingly. Without so much as a word or a sound Nabiki leapt up and sprinted from the room. Ranma blurred vanishing from the room to follow her. He was going to have to explain all of this to her, he figured she was taking it all too well and that the real shock of learning the truth hadn't truly hit yet. He trusted Sanangi and John to keep Kasumi safe from Akane until he got there. He declared himself Akane's guardian, a vampire who served as teacher for a newly reborn vampire and instructed them in the ways of the Crimson Circle. It was the least he could do to help the Tendo clan.

Following Nabiki wasn't hard, he just followed her scent, all the way to the dojo. There he found her. She gasped in surprise when she saw him and she tried to bolt for the door but he caught her before she could get away and he pulled her into his arms and held her. She screamed and beat her fists against this body, but her hits were nothing to him. Finally, after a short while she calmed down. When he leaned his head towards her she clenched her eyes. Expecting pain she was surprised as the pigtailed boy ran a series of kisses down her neck.

"I swore to Kasumi to protect your family, and I swore an oath to the order to never do hard to innocents," he said softly. "I'd never deliberately hurt you or your family, ever. We shared something intimate not long ago, I could have taken you then, but I didn't because of the oath I took. Please, I need you to trust me Nabiki-chan."

The girl wasn't struggling anymore as he held her but she didn't say anything. "I was turned in a violent manner, just like your sister." he explained. "The one who did it to me attacked me after Jusenkyo when I was vulnerable. I couldn't stand the thought of that happening to anyone else, let along your sister. That's why I went in alone, I had to do something, I couldn't just wait. But I wasn't strong enough, and that bastard too advantage of my curse and ... and he beat me and took advantage of me when I couldn't fight back. I fought so hard, so damn hard, but I couldn't stop him. I tried so damn hard, I was so tired, so beaten up, so weak. I felt so helpless, so useless, I felt like a failure. Do you know what it feels like to be violated by someone and you have no way to fight back? He was right there behind me ramming he from behind, fondling me, I could hear him moaning in my ear as he fucked me, and I was totally helpless to stop him. I don't want to ever feel that way again, and I never want anyone else to ever feel like that again. I want to help your sister, show her the path I walk and teach her the way of the order so that together we can both rip that rapist sonuvabitch to fucking pieces so he can't never make anyone else suffer. Its time he learned what suffering means."

To his surprise he felt Nabiki's arms encircle him, when she looked up at him her eyes were filled with tears and leaned towards to kiss him on the lips. They held one another for a long time and kissed. Finally, still in each other's arms Nabiki pulled down one side of her shirt collar.

"Its ok," she said, with a smile.

"Thank you," he said and kissed her lips again before going down to her offered neck.

"Will it hurt?" she asked.

The answer came when she felt his lips form a seal over her neck and the two needle like fangs pierced her skin. It didn't hurt though, in fact a wave of sensations washed though Nabiki which were similar to and perhaps even more intense than an orgasm. She held onto him tightly as he drank, her body convulsed only slightly as the waves of pleasure were just barely enough for her stand. It was over almost as quickly as it begun and she immediately felt very tried and sagged into Ranma's arms. On the verge of sleep she heard him whisper that same incantation again and the golden glow surrounded them. She immediately felt better.

"Lets go, its almost time for your sister to be reborn," Ranma said and lead Nabiki back up the stairs to Akane's bedroom. They watched the girl on the bed, her face pale and gaunt, fitfully tossing about and convulse as the vampire's blood she ingested slowly sapped her life force, transforming her into the undead.

"She's close," Sanangi said in a whisper. Kasumi dabbed at Akane's face with a wet wash cloth. She knew it was a useless gesture but she had to do something to help ease her sister's change. Finally, the convulsing stopped, her breathing faltered, and the young girl on the bed lay deathly still.

"Get her out of there!" Sanangi shouted and John pulled Kasumi away. They went to the far side of the room where the two of them placed themselves between Akane's dead form and two Tendo sisters. Ranma advanced, after kissing a sobbing Nabiki on the cheek, and sat down on Akane's bed.

"This is how it was for me," he said quietly.

Akane's eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright in bed. Her eyes fixed on Kasumi and Nabiki across the room and they turned a bright crimson and a pair of long, sharp fangs suddenly appeared. She tried to lunge towards them but Ranma caught her and forced her back. Akane hissed like a angry cat and attacked him, intending to kill whatever tried to get between her and that which she craved more than anything ever before in her entire life. The hunger, the need to plunge her fangs into her sister's neck was more than anything she could endure, it overwhelmed her willpower, and she became like a feral animal which had been starved.

Ranma remembered being like this when he first awakened. He attacked the first person he saw, which had been another vampire, and that person had willingly accepted him. That vampire, whom had been his guardian was Sanangi.

"Akane ... take me!" Ranma cried out and pulled off his shirt. Seeing this the girl lunged for him, he caught her holding her tight, as she plunged her fangs into his offered neck and began to drink. After a few minutes, he pulled her away, she was reluctant to stop feeding but the ravenous hunger wasn't as great anymore. Her appearance had changed also, she didn't look like she was wasting away anymore and perhaps even looked beautiful. She looked about the room, everything was different, she could see in colors and with a clarity she'd never known before. All kinds of familiar and foreign smells reached her nose and she could hear everything.

"What ... what happened to me?" she asked tiredly leaning into Ranma's embrace. Soon she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

"Welcome to a new world," Ranma said gently as he stroked her hair. Sanangi and John allowed the other Tendo sister to approach. Kasumi stood at the foot of the bed smiling at her sister and her new beautiful appearance. Nabiki wrapped her arms around Ranma and hugged him protectively.

"Now the real work begins," Sanangi said, referring to the task of training Akane up in the way of the Crimson Circle. They had a long hard road ahead of them.

**oOOOo**

At the monastery in China runners came to bring Master Lee an important message. When the messenger was allowed into his chambered he opened the magically secured scroll and rolled it out. After reading it his face paled, he wasn't sure what to make of this report, and he wasn't certain if this was good news to a portent to some evil to come.

The members of the Crimson Circle assigned to watching the compound of the Shangshi witnessed a dark shadow pass across the compound. There was the brief sound of combat within its walls, then all went silent. A few operatives went in to investigate. All of the Shangshi, including it leader, the one who had hired Dragasoni, had all been slain.

**oOOOo**

Coming soon in Chapter 7:

Dragasoni appears to have mysteriously vanished without a trace. The task of teaching Akane how to control her blood lust and live the way of the Crimson Circle begins in earnest with Ranma as her guardian. Meanwhile, something shadowy is moving into Nerima. The Lost Boy arrives.


End file.
